infiniflow/ragflow · error · ValueError

[Categorize] Category name can not be empty!

Error message

[Categorize] Category name can not be empty!

What it means

Raised by CategorizeParam.check (agent/component/categorize.py) when iterating category_description and a dictionary key is empty/falsy. Each category entry needs a non-empty name because the name is used in the LLM prompt ('USER: ... → <name>') and as the routing label for downstream components.

Source

Thrown at agent/component/categorize.py:48

class CategorizeParam(LLMParam):
    """
    Define the categorize component parameters.
    """

    def __init__(self):
        super().__init__()
        self.category_description = {}
        self.query = "sys.query"
        self.message_history_window_size = 1
        self.update_prompt()

    def check(self):
        if not isinstance(self.message_history_window_size, int) or self.message_history_window_size < 0:
            raise ValueError("[Categorize] Message window size cannot be negative")
        self.check_empty(self.category_description, "[Categorize] Category examples")
        for k, v in self.category_description.items():
            if not k:
                raise ValueError("[Categorize] Category name can not be empty!")
            if not v.get("to"):
                raise ValueError(f"[Categorize] 'To' of category {k} can not be empty!")

    def get_input_form(self) -> dict[str, dict]:
        return {"query": {"type": "line", "name": "Query"}}

    def update_prompt(self):
        cate_lines = []
        for c, desc in self.category_description.items():
            for line in desc.get("examples", []):
                if not line:
                    continue
                cate_lines.append('USER: "' + re.sub(r"\n", "    ", line, flags=re.DOTALL) + '" → ' + c)

        descriptions = []
        for c, desc in self.category_description.items():
            if desc.get("description"):
                descriptions.append("\n------\nCategory: {}\nDescription: {}".format(c, desc["description"]))

View on GitHub (pinned to 554fb1133a)

Solutions

1. Give every category a non-empty, distinct name in the Categorize component editor
2. Remove fully empty category rows instead of leaving blank ones
3. When generating canvases programmatically, filter out empty keys: {k: v for k, v in cats.items() if k}

Example fix

# before
"category_description": {"": {"examples": [...], "to": "x"}}

# after
"category_description": {"complaint": {"examples": [...], "to": "x"}}

categories = {k: v for k, v in raw_categories.items() if k and k.strip()}
if not categories:
    raise ValueError('Categorize needs at least one named category')
param.category_description = categories

def has_no_empty_category_names(categories: dict) -> bool:
    return all(str(k).strip() for k in categories)

try:
    param.check()
except ValueError as e:
    if 'Category name can not be empty' in str(e):
        param.category_description = {k: v for k, v in param.category_description.items() if k}
    else:
        raise

When it happens

Trigger: In the Categorize component's category configuration, adding a category row and leaving its name blank; or canvas JSON where a category_description entry has "" as key. Fires during check() on save or run.

Common situations: UI allowing an empty name to be saved; hand-edited canvas JSON; renaming a category to empty while its examples and 'to' remain; copy-paste artifacts creating an empty key.

Related errors

• [Categorize] Message window size cannot be negative
• {} not supported, should be a float number in range [0, 1]
• [Categorize] 'To' of category {k} can not be empty!
• [DocGenerator] Font size must be greater than or equal to 12
• main() must return a value. Use null for an empty result.

AI-assisted analysis of infiniflow/ragflow@554fb1133a (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/fbfb55f4b76e9312. Report an issue: GitHub.