gastownhall/beads · error

db: RawSQL Query: columns: %w

Error message

db: RawSQL Query: columns: %w

What it means

RawSQLRepository.Query executed successfully but rows.Columns() failed while retrieving the result set's column metadata. This happens after a successful query when the connection or driver fails to describe the result columns.

Source

Thrown at internal/storage/domain/db/raw_sql.go:29

	return &rawSQLRepositoryImpl{runner: runner}
}

type rawSQLRepositoryImpl struct {
	runner Runner
}

var _ domain.RawSQLRepository = (*rawSQLRepositoryImpl)(nil)

func (r *rawSQLRepositoryImpl) Query(ctx context.Context, query string, args ...any) (*domain.RawSQLResult, error) {
	rows, err := r.runner.QueryContext(ctx, query, args...)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("db: RawSQL Query: %w", err)
	}
	defer rows.Close()

	columns, err := rows.Columns()
	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("db: RawSQL Query: columns: %w", err)
	}

	result := &domain.RawSQLResult{Columns: columns}
	for rows.Next() {
		values := make([]any, len(columns))
		ptrs := make([]any, len(columns))
		for i := range values {
			ptrs[i] = &values[i]
		}
		if err := rows.Scan(ptrs...); err != nil {
			return nil, fmt.Errorf("db: RawSQL Query: scan: %w", err)
		}
		for i, v := range values {
			if b, ok := v.([]byte); ok {
				values[i] = string(b)
			}
		}
		result.Rows = append(result.Rows, values)

View on GitHub (pinned to 71377f2769)

Solutions

1. Unwrap the error to see the driver-level cause and check connection stability
2. Retry the query — this is often a transient connection issue
3. Verify the driver/transport supports column metadata for your query type
4. Check server logs for aborted connections around the time of the failure

Example fix

// before
res, err := rawRepo.Query(ctx, q) // single attempt
// after
res, err := rawRepo.Query(ctx, q)
if isTransientNetErr(err) {
    time.Sleep(backoff)
    res, err = rawRepo.Query(ctx, q)
}

// health-check connection before critical queries
if err := db.PingContext(ctx); err != nil { /* reconnect first */ }

res, err := rawRepo.Query(ctx, q, args...)
if err != nil && strings.Contains(err.Error(), "columns: ") {
    time.Sleep(200 * time.Millisecond)
    res, err = rawRepo.Query(ctx, q, args...) // one retry
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling Query when the connection drops between query execution and metadata fetch, or the driver cannot describe columns for the result (driver limitation, prepared-statement issues).

Common situations: Network interruption mid-query; drivers that do not support column metadata for certain statements; server restart during query; connection pool serving a broken connection.

Related errors

• failed to open migration connection: %w
• db: GetMetadata %s: %w
• db: SetMetadata %s: %w
• db: LabelSQLRepository.DeleteAllForIDs rows affected: %w
• ExternalDoltConfig: must set Socket or (Host, Port)

AI-assisted analysis of gastownhall/beads@71377f2769 (2026-08-30). Data as JSON: /api/errors/aed10c153c2b48bb. Report an issue: GitHub.