Table does not exist, skipping reindexing. This is only…

Error message

Table ${table} does not exist, skipping reindexing. This is only normal if this is a new Immich instance.

What it means

During vector-index reindexing (e.g. after switching pgvector/VectoRA extensions), the code queries information_schema for the target table and aborts if the table has no columns/does not exist yet. This is expected on a brand-new Immich instance where migration has not yet created the embeddings tables, so it logs a warning and skips reindexing instead of failing.

Solutions

Start Immich normally and let migrations run — the next reindex attempt after migration will succeed
Verify the database user can see the tables (correct database and schema in DB_URL)
Manually run migrations (server restart triggers runMigrations) before changing the vector extension
Ignore the warning if this is genuinely a new instance

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

const { rows } = await db.schema.from('information_schema.columns').select('column_name')
  .where('table_name', '=', 'smart_search').execute();
const tableReady = rows.length > 0;
if (!tableReady) throw new Error('smart_search table missing — run migrations before reindexing');

Try / catch

try {
  await db.reindexVectorsIfNeeded();
} catch (err) {
  if (isNewInstanceError(err)) logger.info('Skipping reindex on fresh instance');
  else throw err;
}

Prevention

Always let migrations run to completion before changing the vector extension
Point Immich at the correct database/schema in DB_URL
Run migrations before any manual schema operations
Don't run extension migrations against an empty/uninitialized database

When it happens

Trigger: reindexVectors is invoked (via updateVectorExtension or reindexVectorsIfNeeded) while the smart_search or face_search table does not exist in the database — typically before the initial migration ran.

Common situations: Fresh Immich container starting up before migrations create tables; pointing Immich at an empty database; changing the vector extension in an environment where schema init hasn't run.

Understand the failure class

Background: EmptyResultError / "no results found": when an API or scraper succeeds but returns zero rows — this error's family across 9 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of immich-app/immich@e55ac299a4 (2026-09-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/4ea19ec6073bc1f9. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at server/src/repositories/database.repository.ts:222

        }
      }
    }

    if (promises.length > 0) {
      await Promise.all(promises);
    }
  }

  private async reindexVectors(indexName: VectorIndex, { lists }: { lists?: number } = {}): Promise<void> {
    this.logger.log(`Reindexing ${indexName} (This may take a while, do not restart)`);
    const table = VECTOR_INDEX_TABLES[indexName];
    const vectorExtension = await getVectorExtension(this.db);

    const { rows } = await sql<{
      columnName: string;
    }>`SELECT column_name as "columnName" FROM information_schema.columns WHERE table_name = ${table}`.execute(this.db);
    if (rows.length === 0) {
      this.logger.warn(
        `Table ${table} does not exist, skipping reindexing. This is only normal if this is a new Immich instance.`,
      );
      return;
    }
    const dimSize = await this.getDimensionSize(table);
    lists ||= this.targetListCount(await this.getRowCount(table));
    await this.db.transaction().execute(async (tx) => {
      await sql`DROP INDEX IF EXISTS ${sql.raw(indexName)}`.execute(tx);
      if (table === 'smart_search') {
        await sql`ALTER TABLE ${sql.raw(table)} DROP CONSTRAINT IF EXISTS dim_size_constraint`.execute(tx);
      }
      if (rows.every((row) => row.columnName !== 'embedding')) {
        this.logger.warn(`Column 'embedding' does not exist in table '${table}', truncating and adding column.`);
        await sql`TRUNCATE TABLE ${sql.raw(table)}`.execute(tx);
        await sql`ALTER TABLE ${sql.raw(table)} ADD COLUMN embedding real[] NOT NULL`.execute(tx);
      }
      await sql`ALTER TABLE ${sql.raw(table)} ALTER COLUMN embedding SET DATA TYPE real[]`.execute(tx);
      await sql`

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