InfluxDB query returned empty results, using default column

Error message

InfluxDB query returned empty results, using default column index mapping.

What it means

InfluxDBSource.initColumnsIndex issues a metadata query against InfluxDB to map field names to column indexes; when the query returns an empty result list, the connector falls back to a default column index mapping and logs this warning. Mapping may then not match the actual measurement schema, so downstream field ordering can be wrong.

Source

Thrown at seatunnel-connectors-v2/connector-influxdb/src/main/java/org/apache/seatunnel/connectors/seatunnel/influxdb/source/InfluxDBSource.java:119

    private List<Integer> initColumnsIndex(InfluxDB influxdb) {
        // query one row to get column info
        String sql = sourceConfig.getSql();
        String query = sql + QUERY_LIMIT;
        // if sql contains tz(), can't be append QUERY_LIMIT at last . see bug #4231
        int start = containTzFunction(sql.toLowerCase());
        if (start > 0) {
            StringBuilder tmpSql = new StringBuilder(sql);
            tmpSql.insert(start - 1, QUERY_LIMIT).append(" ");
            query = tmpSql.toString();
        }

        try {
            QueryResult queryResult = influxdb.query(new Query(query, sourceConfig.getDatabase()));

            List<QueryResult.Result> results = queryResult.getResults();
            if (CollectionUtils.isEmpty(results)) {
                log.warn(
                        "InfluxDB query returned empty results, using default column index mapping.");
                return buildDefaultColumnsIndex();
            }

            List<QueryResult.Series> serieList = results.get(0).getSeries();
            if (CollectionUtils.isEmpty(serieList)) {
                log.warn(
                        "InfluxDB query returned no series (empty data), using default column index mapping.");
                return buildDefaultColumnsIndex();
            }

            List<String> fieldNames = new ArrayList<>(serieList.get(0).getColumns());

            return Arrays.stream(catalogTable.getSeaTunnelRowType().getFieldNames())
                    .map(fieldNames::indexOf)
                    .collect(Collectors.toList());
        } catch (Exception e) {
            throw new InfluxdbConnectorException(

View on GitHub (pinned to cf67b549a7)

Solutions

Verify the source config's database and measurement/query settings point at a database that exists and has data
Run the same query manually (via influx CLI or HTTP /query endpoint) to confirm it returns results
Check InfluxDB connectivity (URL, port, credentials) in the SeaTunnel config
If the default mapping is unacceptable, define the schema explicitly via the source's schema configuration instead of relying on metadata discovery

Example fix

// before
url = "http://localhost:8086"
database = "metrics"   // does not exist
// after
url = "http://influxdb:8086"
database = "prod_metrics"  // existing database with data

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

QueryResult qr = influxdb.query(new Query("SHOW MEASUREMENTS", database));
boolean hasData = qr.getResults() != null
    && qr.getResults().stream().anyMatch(r -> r.getSeries() != null && !r.getSeries().isEmpty());
if (!hasData) throw new IllegalStateException("InfluxDB database '" + database + "' empty or unreachable");

Prevention

Verify database and measurement names in the source config before launching
Pre-seed or confirm the measurement has data for the query's filters
Run the discovery query manually via the influx CLI first
Prefer explicit SeaTunnel schema configuration over automatic metadata discovery in prod

When it happens

Trigger: Calling columnsIndexList/initColumnsIndex where influxdb.query(new Query(query, database)) returns QueryResult with null/empty results — e.g. the database doesn't exist, the measurement has no data, the query/measurement name is wrong, or InfluxDB is unreachable in a way that yields empty results rather than an error.

Common situations: Typo in database or measurement name in source config; querying an empty database in a fresh test environment; SQL/query field misconfigured so the SHOW FIELD KEYS-style query matches nothing; wrong InfluxDB URL pointing at another instance.

Understand the failure class

Background: EmptyResultError / "no results found": when an API or scraper succeeds but returns zero rows — this error's family across 9 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of apache/seatunnel@cf67b549a7 (2026-09-10). Data as JSON: /api/errors/2bf2d4e89808dc5f. Report an issue: GitHub.