Invalid plugin options for "gatsby-plugin-feed": "qu

Error message

Invalid plugin options for "gatsby-plugin-feed":
        "query" must be a valid GraphQL query. Received the error "${e.message}"

What it means

Thrown by the top-level Joi external validator in gatsby-plugin-feed's plugin-options when the plugin's main `query` option fails graphql parse. Identical mechanism to the per-feed validator but operates on the root query option passed to the plugin itself, so it fires before any feed-level validation.

Source

Thrown at packages/gatsby-plugin-feed/src/plugin-options.js:41

          )
        }
      }
    })

export default ({ Joi }) =>
  Joi.object({
    generator: Joi.string(),
    query: Joi.string(),
    setup: Joi.func(),
    feeds: Joi.array().items(feed({ Joi })).required(),
  })
    .unknown(true)
    .external(({ query }) => {
      if (query) {
        try {
          parse(query)
        } catch (e) {
          throw new Error(
            stripIndent`
        Invalid plugin options for "gatsby-plugin-feed":
        "query" must be a valid GraphQL query. Received the error "${e.message}"`
          )
        }
      }
    })

View on GitHub (pinned to 8b06340921)

Solutions

Open the message — it embeds the graphql parse error message pinpointing the token.
Validate the top-level query string in GraphiQL.
If unsure, remove the custom `query` option to restore the default valid query.
Ensure no un-interpolated template placeholders remain in the string.

Example fix

// before
{ resolve: 'gatsby-plugin-feed', options: { query: `{ site { siteMetadata { title `, feeds } }
// after
{ resolve: 'gatsby-plugin-feed', options: { query: `{ site { siteMetadata { title } } }`, feeds } }

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

const { parse } = require('graphql')
try { parse(options.query) } catch (e) { console.error(`Top-level plugin-feed query invalid: ${e.message}`) }

Type guard

const isParseableGraphQL = (q: string): boolean => { try { parse(q); return true } catch { return false } }

Prevention

Validate the top-level plugin-feed query in GraphiQL.
Omit a custom `query` to use the default valid query.
Avoid template-literal placeholders in the query.

When it happens

Trigger: Passing `query` to the gatsby-plugin-feed options object (the shared site-level query) that is not valid GraphQL syntax; setting options.query to an empty or partial string; the default query being overridden with a malformed one.

Common situations: Overriding the plugin's top-level query with a broken template; partial copy-paste from the docs missing closing braces; upgrading gatsby-plugin-feed and forgetting to update a customized query.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of gatsbyjs/gatsby@8b06340921 (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/8e62d5216e2caa7e. Report an issue: GitHub.