dbt-labs/dbt-core · error

ok

Error message

ok

What it means

A test panic from `expect("ok")` on `<Vec<ViewDefinition>>::from_recording_json(&json)`. The recording codec must reconstruct a Vec<ViewDefinition> from its `to_recording_json` output; any deserialize error (missing fields, non-serializable AdapterType dialect, field drift) panics the test. It means the ViewDefinition recording format is not round-trip safe at `crates/dbt-adapter/src/time_machine/metadata.rs:918`.

Source

Thrown at crates/dbt-adapter/src/time_machine/metadata.rs:918

        let args = args_fetch_view_definitions(["a.b.c", "d.e.f"]);
        assert!(matches!(
            args,
            MetadataCallArgs::FetchViewDefinitions { relations } if relations == vec!["a.b.c", "d.e.f"]
        ));
    }

    #[test]
    fn test_view_definition_vec_round_trips_via_recording_json() {
        use crate::metadata::ViewDefinition;
        let original = vec![ViewDefinition {
            fqn: r#""DB"."S"."V""#.to_string(),
            definition: "SELECT 1".to_string(),
            dialect: AdapterType::Snowflake,
            default_catalog: "DB".to_string(),
            default_schema: "S".to_string(),
        }];
        let json = original.to_recording_json();
        let restored = <Vec<ViewDefinition>>::from_recording_json(&json).expect("ok");
        assert_eq!(restored.len(), 1);
        assert_eq!(restored[0].fqn, original[0].fqn);
        assert_eq!(restored[0].definition, original[0].definition);
        assert_eq!(restored[0].dialect, original[0].dialect);
        assert_eq!(restored[0].default_catalog, original[0].default_catalog);
        assert_eq!(restored[0].default_schema, original[0].default_schema);
    }

    #[test]
    fn test_view_definition_fetch_result_round_trips_unresolvable() {
        use crate::metadata::{ViewDefinition, ViewDefinitionFetchResult};
        let original = ViewDefinitionFetchResult {
            definitions: vec![ViewDefinition {
                fqn: r#""DB"."S"."V""#.to_string(),
                definition: "SELECT 1".to_string(),
                dialect: AdapterType::Snowflake,
                default_catalog: "DB".to_string(),
                default_schema: "S".to_string(),

View on GitHub (pinned to 0267ce9170)

Solutions

1. Inspect the underlying error by replacing expect with unwrap_or_else that prints the error and the json payload.
2. Verify every field of ViewDefinition is serialized by to_recording_json and read back by from_recording_json (fqn, definition, dialect, default_catalog, default_schema).
3. Update the ViewDefinition recording impl after any struct field change, and regenerate old recordings.
4. Add serde round-trip property tests so drift is caught at compile/CI time.

Example fix

// before
let restored = <Vec<ViewDefinition>>::from_recording_json(&json).expect("ok");
// after
let restored = <Vec<ViewDefinition>>::from_recording_json(&json)
    .unwrap_or_else(|e| panic!("view definitions failed to deserialize: {e}; json={json}"));

fn view_definitions_roundtrip(v: &[ViewDefinition]) -> bool {
    v.to_recording_json()
        .and_then(|j| <Vec<ViewDefinition>>::from_recording_json(&j))
        .map(|r| r.len() == v.len())
        .unwrap_or(false)
}

fn is_valid_recording_json(j: &serde_json::Value) -> bool {
    j.is_object() && j.get("definitions").map_or(false, |d| d.is_array())
}

match <Vec<ViewDefinition>>::from_recording_json(&json) {
    Ok(v) => v,
    Err(e) => { log::warn("view definition replay decode failed: {e}"); Vec::new() }
}

When it happens

Trigger: `Vec<ViewDefinition>::from_recording_json` receiving JSON from `to_recording_json` where a ViewDefinition field (fqn, definition, dialect, default_catalog, default_schema) is missing, renamed, or of unexpected type.

Common situations: Adding or renaming a field on ViewDefinition without updating its recording JSON impl; AdapterType serde representation changing; replaying old recordings against a newer struct definition.

Understand the failure class

Background: "failed to unmarshal" / json.Unmarshal errors: why parsing a response into a Go struct fails and how to fix it — this error's family across 23 libraries.

Related errors

• Failed to deserialize
• invalid serialized time precision
• invalid serialized timestamp precision
• RelationConfig should serialize
• original value should be serializable via the time-machine r

AI-assisted analysis of dbt-labs/dbt-core@0267ce9170 (2026-09-07). Data as JSON: /api/errors/70b7026c6423d453. Report an issue: GitHub.