influxdata/influxdb · error · Error

parquet format is not supported for this command

Error message

parquet format is not supported for this command

What it means

This error is raised by the `influxdb3 show system` command when the user requests parquet output. The system-table commands only support textual formats (pretty, csv, json, etc.), so parquet is explicitly rejected before any query is sent. It is a guard in the CLI, not a server-side limitation report.

Solutions

1. Use --format pretty, csv, or json instead of parquet
2. If you need parquet, run the query via `influxdb3 query --format parquet` and filter the system table there
3. Post-convert the JSON/CSV output to parquet with your own tooling

Example fix

// before
influxdb3 show system table --table system.cpu --format parquet
// after
influxdb3 show system table --table system.cpu --format csv

if format.eq_ignore_ascii_case("parquet") {
    return Err(anyhow!("use --format csv|json|pretty for 'show system' commands"));
}

When it happens

Trigger: Running `influxdb3 show system table_list|table|summary --format parquet`; the command checks `output_format.is_parquet()` at the very start and returns immediately.

Common situations: Scripting `show system` output into a parquet file for analysis; copying a --format parquet flag from the `query` command where parquet IS supported.

Understand the failure class

Background: UnsupportedOperationException and "is not supported" errors: when a library deliberately refuses a call — this error's family across 30 libraries.

Related errors

• cannot write parquet to a terminal, use `--output
• Failed to delete parquet file
• system table ' ' not found
• You've incorrectly specified a cluster-id for InfluxDB 3…
• ' ' is a reserved column

AI-assisted analysis of influxdata/influxdb@06200ef96b (2026-09-19). Data as JSON: /api/errors/f3df90b5b1d02e77. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at influxdb3/src/commands/show/system.rs:21

use clap::Parser;
use influxdb3_client::Client;
use secrecy::ExposeSecret;
use serde::Deserialize;

use super::super::common::{Format, InfluxDb3Config};

#[derive(Debug, thiserror::Error)]
pub(crate) enum Error {
    #[error("client error: {0}")]
    InfluxDB3Client(#[from] influxdb3_client::Error),

    #[error("deserializing show tables: {0}")]
    DeserializingShowTables(#[source] serde_json::Error),

    #[error("system table '{0}' not found: {1}")]
    SystemTableNotFound(String, SystemTableNotFound),

    #[error("parquet format is not supported for this command")]
    ParquetFormatNotSupported,
}

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

#[derive(Debug, Parser)]
#[clap(visible_alias = "s", trailing_var_arg = true)]
pub struct SystemConfig {
    #[clap(subcommand)]
    subcommand: SubCommand,

    /// Common InfluxDB 3 Core config
    #[clap(flatten)]
    core_config: InfluxDb3Config,
}

#[derive(Debug, clap::Subcommand)]
pub(super) enum SubCommand {

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