apache/seatunnel · error · IllegalArgumentException

Invalid sort JSON:

Error message

Invalid sort JSON: 

What it means

AirtableSourceParameter.parseSort throws IllegalArgumentException 'Invalid sort JSON: <input>' when the 'sort' option is not valid JSON shaped as a list of objects (List<Map<String,Object>>) as Airtable's API expects. The parse exception from JsonUtils is attached as the cause.

Source

Thrown at seatunnel-connectors-v2/connector-http/connector-http-airtable/src/main/java/org/apache/seatunnel/connectors/seatunnel/airtable/source/config/AirtableSourceParameter.java:178

    }

    private void checkConflict(
            ReadonlyConfig pluginConfig,
            Map<String, Object> body,
            Option<?> option,
            String bodyKey,
            List<String> conflicts) {
        if (pluginConfig.getOptional(option).isPresent() && body.containsKey(bodyKey)) {
            conflicts.add(bodyKey + " (option: " + option.key() + ")");
        }
    }

    private Object parseSort(String sortJson) {
        try {
            return JsonUtils.parseObject(
                    sortJson, new TypeReference<List<Map<String, Object>>>() {});
        } catch (RuntimeException e) {
            throw new IllegalArgumentException("Invalid sort JSON: " + sortJson, e);
        }
    }
}

View on GitHub (pinned to cf67b549a7)

Solutions

1. Write valid JSON with quoted keys and double-quoted string values: sort = "[{\"field\":\"Name\",\"direction\":\"asc\"}]".
2. Validate the JSON in a linter before putting it in the config.
3. Ensure the top-level shape is a JSON array of objects, not a string or single object.

Example fix

// before
sort = "[{field: 'Name', direction: 'asc'}]"
// after
sort = "[{\"field\":\"Name\",\"direction\":\"asc\"}]"

// Validate sort JSON before submitting
try { new com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper().readValue(sortJson, new TypeReference<List<Map<String,Object>>>(){}); } catch (Exception e) { throw new IllegalArgumentException("bad sort"); }

try { createSource(config); } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) { /* message contains the offending sort string */ }

When it happens

Trigger: Setting sort = "[{field: \"Name\", direction: \"asc\"}]" without quoting keys, or passing a bare string/array-formatted HOCON that fails JSON parsing when the source builds its request body.

Common situations: Hand-writing sort JSON in HOCON where keys are unquoted or values use single quotes; wrapping the array in an extra string; confusing Airtable's sort format with plain field names.

Understand the failure class

Background: "Invalid ... format", "must be in format X", "does not look like a ..." — invalid argument format errors across CLI tools and libraries — this error's family across 17 libraries.

Related errors

• Conflict between 'body' and dedicated Airtable options for k
• Schema config can not be empty
• Unknown format type:
• AmazonDocumentDB option '' must be a valid BSON/JSON documen
• Option '${option}' cannot be blank

AI-assisted analysis of apache/seatunnel@cf67b549a7 (2026-09-10). Data as JSON: /api/errors/94036ddc89f0b075. Report an issue: GitHub.