query contains table '%s' without project ID, and no default

Error message

query contains table '%s' without project ID, and no default project ID is provided

What it means

formatTableID builds fully-qualified project.dataset.table IDs so table access can be checked against dataset restrictions. A reference with only dataset.table cannot be resolved without a default project; if no defaultProjectID was supplied to the parser, it fails rather than guessing the project.

Source

Thrown at internal/tools/bigquery/bigquerycommon/table_name_parser.go:473

		}
		totalConsumed++
	}
	return parts, totalConsumed, nil
}

func formatTableID(parts []string, defaultProjectID string) (string, error) {
	if len(parts) < 2 || len(parts) > 3 {
		// Not a table identifier (could be a CTE, column, etc.).
		// Return the consumed length so the main loop can skip this identifier.
		return "", nil
	}

	var tableID string
	if len(parts) == 3 { // project.dataset.table
		tableID = strings.Join(parts, ".")
	} else { // dataset.table
		if defaultProjectID == "" {
			return "", fmt.Errorf("query contains table '%s' without project ID, and no default project ID is provided", strings.Join(parts, "."))
		}
		tableID = fmt.Sprintf("%s.%s", defaultProjectID, strings.Join(parts, "."))
	}

	return tableID, nil
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 8cc6e09de2)

Solutions

Configure the BigQuery source with a project ID so the parser has a defaultProjectID
Fully qualify table references as project.dataset.table in the query
Pass a default project when constructing the TableParser

Example fix

// before
TableParser{DefaultProjectID: ""} with query: SELECT * FROM mydataset.mytable
// after
TableParser{DefaultProjectID: "my-project"} -- or query:
SELECT * FROM my-project.mydataset.mytable

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

if parser.DefaultProjectID == "" && usesTwoPartTableName(sql) {
    return fmt.Errorf("source has no default project; fully qualify tables as project.dataset.table")
}

Try / catch

tables, err := parser.Parse(sql)
if err != nil && strings.Contains(err.Error(), "no default project ID") {
    // re-parse with an explicit default project, or ask user to qualify tables
    return err
}

Prevention

Always configure a project ID on the BigQuery source
Write fully-qualified project.dataset.table references in shared SQL
Assert a non-empty project ID at server startup in tests

When it happens

Trigger: parseSQL encounters a dataset.table (2-part) reference while TableParser was constructed with an empty defaultProjectID (e.g. no project passed from the source config).

Common situations: Source configured without a BigQuery project ID while queries use unqualified table names; shared SQL written assuming a default project; environment-dependent configs where the default project is unset in prod.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of googleapis/mcp-toolbox@8cc6e09de2 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/1d0d3a0928052f21. Report an issue: GitHub.