dbt-labs/dbt-core · error · minijinja::Error::InvalidOperation

show_tables_results must contain AgateTables

Error message

show_tables_results must contain AgateTables

What it means

`build_catalog_from_show_tables_and_svv_columns` iterates the `show_tables_results` argument expecting every element to be an AgateTable. This error is thrown when any element of that iterable cannot be downcast to `Arc<AgateTable>`. It protects the catalog builder from receiving dicts or other serialized data in the show-tables list.

Source

Thrown at crates/dbt-adapter/src/adapter/mod.rs:560

    /// ```
    #[tracing::instrument(skip_all, level = "trace")]
    pub fn build_catalog_from_show_tables_and_svv_columns(
        &self,
        _state: &State,
        args: &[Value],
    ) -> Result<Value, minijinja::Error> {
        match &self.inner {
            Typed { adapter, .. } => {
                let iter = ArgsIter::new(
                    "build_catalog_from_show_tables_and_svv_columns",
                    &["show_tables_results", "svv_columns"],
                    args,
                );
                let show_tables_value = iter.next_arg::<&Value>()?;
                let mut show_tables_results: Vec<Arc<AgateTable>> = Vec::new();
                for table_value in show_tables_value.try_iter()? {
                    let table = table_value.downcast_object::<AgateTable>().ok_or_else(|| {
                        minijinja::Error::new(
                            minijinja::ErrorKind::InvalidOperation,
                            "show_tables_results must contain AgateTables",
                        )
                    })?;
                    show_tables_results.push(table);
                }
                let svv_columns = iter
                    .next_arg::<&Value>()?
                    .downcast_object::<AgateTable>()
                    .ok_or_else(|| {
                        minijinja::Error::new(
                            minijinja::ErrorKind::InvalidOperation,
                            "svv_columns must be an AgateTable",
                        )
                    })?;
                iter.finish()?;

                let catalog = adapter.build_catalog_from_show_tables_and_svv_columns(

View on GitHub (pinned to 0267ce9170)

Solutions

1. Ensure each entry in show_tables_results is converted via load_agate_table()/AgateTable before being passed
2. Check that the list is not accidentally a single table wrapped in the wrong nesting level (e.g. list of dicts instead of list of tables)
3. Log the element type at the failing index to confirm which item is not an AgateTable

Example fix

// before
show_tables_results = res['tables']  # list of dicts
// after
show_tables_results = [load_agate_table(t) for t in res['tables']]

# ensure every element is an agate table before the call
assert all(hasattr(t, 'column_names') for t in show_tables_results), 'every show_tables_result must be an agate Table'

fn all_agate_tables(v: &Value) -> bool {
    v.try_iter().map(|it| it.all(|x| x.downcast_object::<AgateTable>().is_some())).unwrap_or(false)
}

match table_value.downcast_object::<AgateTable>() {
    Some(t) => show_tables_results.push(t),
    None => return Err(minijinja::Error::new(minijinja::ErrorKind::InvalidOperation,
        "show_tables_results must contain AgateTables; convert each item with load_agate_table()")),
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling build_catalog_from_show_tables_and_svv_columns with a show_tables_results list that contains non-AgateTable items — e.g. plain dicts from a custom `show_tables` macro or a partially serialized results array.

Common situations: Redshift catalog ingestion where a custom show-tables override returns raw rows; mixing parsed and unparsed result sets when assembling the catalog arguments from Python.

Understand the failure class

Background: "Must be a positive integer", "Invalid value", "Unsupported": the invalid-argument-value error family, when a library rejects the value you pass — this error's family across 35 libraries.

Related errors

• svv_columns must be an AgateTable
• grants_table must be an AgateTable
• agate_table must be an AgateTable
• list_relations_schemas_by_patterns for Redshift
• ColumnsAsTuple::count_occurrences_of

AI-assisted analysis of dbt-labs/dbt-core@0267ce9170 (2026-09-07). Data as JSON: /api/errors/4f261ed8359036fe. Report an issue: GitHub.