googleapis/mcp-toolbox · error

failed to create search entries iterator for project %q

Error message

failed to create search entries iterator for project %q

What it means

searchRequest builds a SearchEntries request on the Dataplex Catalog client and calls CatalogClient().SearchEntries, which returns a search iterator. This error is returned when the iterator is nil, i.e. the client could not produce a streaming search iterator for the given request/scope. Note it does not wrap an underlying error — it is a nil-guard on the returned iterator.

Source

Thrown at internal/sources/dataplex/dataplex.go:293

func (s *Source) searchRequest(ctx context.Context, query string, pageSize int, orderBy string, scope string) (*dataplexapi.SearchEntriesResultIterator, error) {
	// Create SearchEntriesRequest with the provided parameters
	req := &dataplexpb.SearchEntriesRequest{
		Query:          query,
		Name:           fmt.Sprintf("projects/%s/locations/global", s.ProjectID()),
		PageSize:       int32(pageSize),
		OrderBy:        orderBy,
		SemanticSearch: true,
	}

	if scope != "" {
		req.Scope = scope
	}

	// Perform the search using the CatalogClient - this will return an iterator
	it := s.CatalogClient().SearchEntries(ctx, req)
	if it == nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to create search entries iterator for project %q", s.ProjectID())
	}
	return it, nil
}

func (s *Source) SearchAspectTypes(ctx context.Context, query string, pageSize int, orderBy string) ([]*dataplexpb.AspectType, error) {
	if pageSize <= 0 {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("pageSize must be positive: %d", pageSize)
	}
	q := query + " type=projects/dataplex-types/locations/global/entryTypes/aspecttype"
	it, err := s.searchRequest(ctx, q, pageSize, orderBy, "")
	if err != nil {
		return nil, err
	}

	// Iterate through the search results and call GetAspectType for each result using the resource name
	var results []*dataplexpb.AspectType
	for len(results) < pageSize {
		entry, err := it.Next()

View on GitHub (pinned to 8cc6e09de2)

Solutions

1. Restart the toolbox so the Dataplex source is re-initialized and the Catalog client is rebuilt.
2. Confirm the dataplex source initialized successfully at startup (no earlier init errors were swallowed).
3. Update cloud.google.com/go/dataplex and check its SearchEntries behavior — a nil iterator without error indicates a client-side issue, worth reporting upstream.
4. Validate the query, scope, and project configuration in the tool config (e.g. project matches an existing, enabled Dataplex project).

// before invoking search tools
if src.SourceType() != dataplex.SourceType {
	return fmt.Errorf("source is not dataplex")
}
// ensure initialization succeeded and client is non-nil
_, err := projectsClient.GetProject(ctx, &resourcemanagerpb.GetProjectRequest{Name: "projects/" + projectID})

func hasDataplexClient(s *dataplex.Source) bool {
	return s != nil && s.CatalogClient() != nil
}

entries, err := src.SearchEntries(ctx, query, pageSize, orderBy, aspectTypes)
if err != nil {
	if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "failed to create search entries iterator") {
		log.Printf("Dataplex client unavailable; reinitializing source: %v", err)
		return reinitializeSourceAndRetry(ctx)
	}
	return err
}

When it happens

Trigger: searchRequest (called by SearchAspectTypes and SearchEntries) invokes s.CatalogClient().SearchEntries(ctx, req) and receives a nil iterator — typically because the Catalog client is nil/uninitialized (source closed or misconstructed) rather than a query problem.

Common situations: Invoking tools after the source's client was closed; a library update where SearchEntries error handling changed; constructing a Source outside Initialize with a nil Client; project/scope strings so malformed that the client short-circuits.

Related errors

• dataplex catalog client is nil
• failed to create search entries iterator
• failed to initialize dataplex client: %w
• failed to create Dataplex client for project %q: %w
• failed to get dataplex client: %w

AI-assisted analysis of googleapis/mcp-toolbox@8cc6e09de2 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/a6b5c910581ab870. Report an issue: GitHub.