influxdata/influxdb · error · Error::NoInput

No input from stdin detected, no string was passed in, and…

Error message

No input from stdin detected, no string was passed in, and no file path was given

What it means

The influxdb3 `write` command's `NoInput` variant fires when no line protocol input was provided: no positional string, no data on stdin, and no `--file` path. The command cannot write anything to the server without input.

Solutions

  1. Pass the line protocol as the final quoted argument: `influxdb3 write --database my-db 'm,t=a v=1'`
  2. Pipe LP via stdin: `cat data.lp | influxdb3 write --database my-db`
  3. Use `--file <path>` with a non-empty line protocol file

Example fix

// before
influxdb3 write --database my-db
// after
influxdb3 write --database my-db 'cpu,host=a usage=0.5'
Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

// shell guard
if [[ -z "$LP_STRING" && ! -s "${LP_FILE:-}" && ! -p /dev/stdin ]]; then
  echo "no line protocol input: pass string, --file, or stdin" >&2; exit 1
fi

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: Running `influxdb3 write --database <db>` with no LP string argument, empty stdin, and no `--file` flag.

Common situations: Empty piped file (`cat empty.lp | influxdb3 write ...`); forgotten quoted LP string; misordered arguments so the LP string is consumed as a flag value.

Understand the failure class

Background: "no subcommand specified" and "... is required": CLI errors when a required argument is missing — this error's family across 13 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of influxdata/influxdb@06200ef96b (2026-09-19). Data as JSON: /api/errors/6ad8265c43c98163. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at influxdb3_commands/src/write.rs:38

use url::Url;

/// Default per-request body size cap. Matches the server's default
/// `--max-http-request-size` so a `write` command piped from a generator
/// that produces a stream larger than 10 MiB still succeeds out of the box.
const DEFAULT_MAX_REQUEST_SIZE: usize = 10 * 1024 * 1024;

/// Size of each blocking `read()` from the input source (file / stdin).
const READ_SIZE: usize = 4 * 1024 * 1024;

#[derive(Debug, thiserror::Error)]
pub enum Error {
    #[error(transparent)]
    Client(#[from] influxdb3_client::Error),

    #[error("error reading file: {0}")]
    Io(#[from] io::Error),

    #[error("No input from stdin detected, no string was passed in, and no file path was given")]
    NoInput,

    #[error("no line protocol string provided")]
    NoLine,

    #[error(
        "ensure that a single protocol line string is provided as the final \
        argument, enclosed in quotes"
    )]
    MoreThanOne,
}

pub type Result<T> = std::result::Result<T, Error>;

#[derive(Debug, Parser)]
#[clap(visible_alias = "w", trailing_var_arg = true)]
pub struct Config {
    /// Common InfluxDB 3 server config

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