googleapis/mcp-toolbox · error

failed to get dataplex client: %w

Error message

failed to get dataplex client: %w

What it means

This error wraps a failure that occurred while obtaining the Dataplex Catalog client (and creator closure) via s.MakeDataplexCatalogClient()() before invoking a catalog search. The inner error is typically the 'failed to create Dataplex client for project' error from the client constructor. It means searchcatalog.InvokeSearchCatalog could not start because no usable client was produced.

Source

Thrown at internal/sources/bigquery/bigquery.go:1011

) func(string) (*dataplexapi.CatalogClient, error) {
	return func(tokenString string) (*dataplexapi.CatalogClient, error) {
		return initDataplexConnectionWithOAuthToken(ctx, project, userAgent, tokenString)
	}
}

func (s *Source) InvokeSearchCatalog(ctx context.Context, params map[string]any, tokenStr string) ([]searchcatalog.DataplexSearchResponse, error) {
	typeMap := map[string]string{
		"bigquery-connection":  "CONNECTION",
		"bigquery-data-policy": "POLICY",
		"bigquery-dataset":     "DATASET",
		"bigquery-model":       "MODEL",
		"bigquery-routine":     "ROUTINE",
		"bigquery-table":       "TABLE",
		"bigquery-view":        "VIEW",
	}
	catalogClient, dataplexClientCreator, err := s.MakeDataplexCatalogClient()()
	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to get dataplex client: %w", err)
	}
	return searchcatalog.InvokeSearchCatalog(
		ctx,
		params,
		tokenStr,
		"bigquery",
		"datasetIds",
		typeMap,
		s.BigQueryProject(),
		func(ctx context.Context, token string) (*dataplexapi.CatalogClient, error) {
			if token != "" {
				return dataplexClientCreator(token)
			}
			return catalogClient, nil
		},
	)
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 8cc6e09de2)

Solutions

1. Inspect the wrapped inner error for the root cause (client creation vs. auth).
2. Re-authenticate or refresh the access token used by the BigQuery source.
3. Enable the Dataplex API (dataplex.googleapis.com) on the target project.
4. Verify network connectivity/proxy settings to Google APIs.
5. Re-test with `gcloud dataplex catalog search` or a curl to the endpoint to isolate auth vs. network.

Example fix

// before
catalogClient, dataplexClientCreator, err := s.MakeDataplexCatalogClient()()
if err != nil {
    return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to get dataplex client: %w", err)
}
// after
catalogClient, dataplexClientCreator, err := s.MakeDataplexCatalogClient()()
if err != nil {
    return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to get dataplex client (check token validity and Dataplex API enablement for project): %w", err)
}

tok, err := findTokenFromCtx(ctx)
if err != nil || tok == "" {
    return errors.New("no valid access token available for Dataplex catalog search")
}
resp, err := http.Get("https://dataplex.googleapis.com/")
if err != nil {
    return fmt.Errorf("Dataplex endpoint unreachable: %w", err)
}
resp.Body.Close()

func isClientInitError(err error) bool {
    return err != nil && strings.Contains(err.Error(), "failed to create Dataplex client")
}

catalogClient, creator, err := s.MakeDataplexCatalogClient()()
if err != nil {
    if isClientInitError(err) {
        return nil, fmt.Errorf("re-authenticate and retry; client init failed: %w", err)
    }
    return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to get dataplex client: %w", err)
}

When it happens

Trigger: Invoking the bigquery-search-catalog tool: MakeDataplexCatalogClient()() returns a non-nil error because the underlying dataplexapi.NewCatalogClient call failed (auth token invalid, options error, network/endpoint issue).

Common situations: Expired OAuth access token at tool invocation time, missing BigQuery/Dataplex API enablement on the project, misconfigured source credentials, or offline/proxied environments where the Dataplex endpoint is unreachable.

Related errors

• failed to initialize dataplex client: %w
• failed to get catalog client: %w
• failed to create Dataplex client for project %q: %w
• failed to create impersonated credentials for %q for project
• failed to find default Google Cloud credentials for project

AI-assisted analysis of googleapis/mcp-toolbox@8cc6e09de2 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/dbfe9fd567b3cace. Report an issue: GitHub.