gastownhall/beads · error

table name too long

Error message

table name too long

What it means

validateTableName enforces the same 64-character identifier limit as database names, matching MySQL/Dolt identifier limits. Table names are interpolated into backtick-quoted SQL, and the server would reject anything longer, so the library fails fast with a clear message.

Solutions

1. Shorten the table name to 64 bytes or fewer before querying.
2. If deriving history/table names dynamically, truncate the base identifier so the composed name (including any 'dolt_history_' prefix budget) stays within 64 bytes.
3. Review code that concatenates prefixes/suffixes onto table names and add a length check at the composition point.

Example fix

// before
table := "issues_" + strings.Repeat("x", 80)
validateTableName(table) // fails
// after
table := "issues_" + hash[:12] // keep total length <= 64
validateTableName(table)

func validTableName(t string) bool { return len(t) > 0 && len(t) <= 64 }
if !validTableName(table) { return fmt.Errorf("table name %q must be 1-64 chars", table) }

func isShortIdentifier(s string) bool { return len(s) <= 64 }

When it happens

Trigger: Passing a table name longer than 64 bytes into any internal query path that validates via validateTableName (e.g. history queries against dolt_history_<table> or conflict queries).

Common situations: Programmatically generated table names combining long prefixes and suffixes (e.g. 'dolt_history_' + a long name exceeding 64 bytes); tenant-prefixed table schemes; name collisions with schema-migration limits.

Related errors

• database name too long
• invalid table name
• table name cannot be empty
• add replacement CLI remote failed; previous URL
• backup destination does not exist

AI-assisted analysis of gastownhall/beads@71377f2769 (2026-08-30). Data as JSON: /api/errors/978dc9dc6fc99010. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at internal/storage/dolt/history.go:48

	if name == "" {
		return fmt.Errorf("database name cannot be empty")
	}
	if len(name) > 64 {
		return fmt.Errorf("database name too long")
	}
	if !validDatabasePattern.MatchString(name) {
		return fmt.Errorf("invalid database name: %s", name)
	}
	return nil
}

// validateTableName checks if a table name is safe to use in queries
func validateTableName(table string) error {
	if table == "" {
		return fmt.Errorf("table name cannot be empty")
	}
	if len(table) > 64 {
		return fmt.Errorf("table name too long")
	}
	if !validTablePattern.MatchString(table) {
		return fmt.Errorf("invalid table name: %s", table)
	}
	return nil
}

// issueHistory represents an issue at a specific point in history
type issueHistory struct {
	Issue      *types.Issue
	CommitHash string
	Committer  string
	CommitDate time.Time
}

// getIssueHistory returns the complete history of an issue
func (s *DoltStore) getIssueHistory(ctx context.Context, issueID string) ([]*issueHistory, error) {
	// Wrap in a subquery to avoid Dolt's max1Row optimization on PK lookup.

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