apache/superset · error · DatabaseTablesUnexpectedError

Unexpected error occurred, please check your logs for detail

Error message

Unexpected error occurred, please check your logs for details

What it means

DatabaseTablesUnexpectedError wraps any non-Superset exception thrown while building the tables/views/materialized-views listing payload in DatabaseTablesCommand.run(). SupersetExceptions pass through unchanged; everything else is converted with the original message preserved.

Source

Thrown at superset/commands/database/tables.py:174

                + [
                    {
                        "value": mv.table,
                        "type": "materialized_view",
                    }
                    for mv in materialized_views
                ],
                key=lambda item: item["value"],
            )

            payload = {
                "count": len(tables) + len(views) + len(materialized_views),
                "result": options,
            }
            return payload
        except SupersetException:
            raise
        except Exception as ex:
            raise DatabaseTablesUnexpectedError(str(ex)) from ex

    def validate(self) -> None:
        self._model = cast(Database, DatabaseDAO.find_by_id(self._db_id))
        if not self._model:
            raise DatabaseNotFoundError()

View on GitHub (pinned to f4587218dd)

Solutions

Read the wrapped message (str(ex)) and server logs for the underlying traceback
Update the SQLAlchemy driver / engine spec if the cause is a known integration bug
Test the same listing in SQL Lab to see if the engine itself is healthy

Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Try / catch

try:
    payload = DatabaseTablesCommand(db_id, {}).run()
except DatabaseTablesUnexpectedError as e:
    logger.exception("table listing failed: %s", e.__cause__)
    ...

Prevention

Keep SQLAlchemy/DBAPI driver versions pinned to tested combos
Report engine-specific introspection failures with the chained traceback

When it happens

Trigger: GET /api/v1/database/<id>/tables/ where introspection raises an unexpected driver/SDK error (serialization issue, engine-specific bug, unexpected None from the driver).

Common situations: Bugs in engine integration paths, malformed metadata returned by exotic drivers, version mismatches between SQLAlchemy and the DBAPI driver.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of apache/superset@f4587218dd (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/da3eb2cf7e5b1202. Report an issue: GitHub.