What causes "Invalid response format" in cube-js/cube?

Check the transport used; use a supported HttpTransport from cubejs-client-core

Invalid response format

Error message

Invalid response format

What it means

cubeSql() expects the failed response to carry an `error` field. When the transport resolves with a null response or a response lacking `error`, the method cannot classify the failure and throws 'Invalid response format'. It guards the error-handling path itself.

Source

Thrown at packages/cubejs-client-core/src/index.ts:807

          throwContinueWait: true,
        };

        if (options?.cache) {
          cubesqlParams.cache = options.cache;
        }

        if (options?.timezone) {
          cubesqlParams.timezone = options.timezone;
        }

        const request = this.request('cubesql', cubesqlParams);

        return request;
      },
      (response: any) => {
        // TODO: The response is sending both errors and successful results as `error`
        if (!response || !response.error) {
          throw new Error('Invalid response format');
        }

        // Check if this is a timeout or abort error from transport
        if (response.error === 'timeout') {
          const timeoutMs = options?.timeout || 5 * 60 * 1000;
          throw new Error(`CubeSQL query timed out after ${timeoutMs}ms`);
        }

        if (response.error === 'aborted') {
          throw new Error('CubeSQL query was aborted');
        }

        const [schema, ...data] = response.error.split('\n');

        let parsedSchema: any;
        try {
          parsedSchema = JSON.parse(schema);
        } catch (err) {

View on GitHub (pinned to 7d981676b3)

Solutions

Check the transport used; use a supported HttpTransport from cubejs-client-core
Upgrade cubejs-client-core and transport packages to matching versions
Log the raw response before calling cubeSql to see what the transport actually returns

Example fix

// before
const client = new CubejsClient({ apiUrl, transport: myCustomTransport });
// after
const client = new CubejsClient({ apiUrl }); // default HttpTransport sets error correctly

Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

const client = new CubejsClient({ apiUrl }); // use supported built-in transport

Type guard

function isClassifiableError(res) {
  return res != null && typeof res === 'object' && typeof res.error === 'string';
}

Try / catch

try { const res = await client.cubeSql(sql); } catch (e) {
  if (e.message === 'Invalid response format') {
    console.error('Transport returned unexpected payload; check transport version/implementation', e);
  } else throw e;
}

Prevention

Use built-in HttpTransport rather than ad-hoc transports
Keep client and transport packages on the same version
Log raw transport responses when debugging

When it happens

Trigger: Calling cubeSql() when the transport error callback receives undefined/null, or an object without an `error` property (e.g. a transport that resolves errors differently or resolves empty bodies).

Common situations: Custom or older transport implementations not setting `error` on failure; proxies/gateways returning empty bodies with non-200 statuses; version mismatches between client-core and transport packages.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of cube-js/cube@7d981676b3 (2026-09-02). Data as JSON: /api/errors/796e68fee3f7ee45. Report an issue: GitHub.