jackwener/OpenCLI · warning · EmptyResultError

dblp returned an empty record for key "${key}".

Error message

dblp returned an empty record for key "${key}".

What it means

EmptyResultError thrown when the XML fetched from dblp's /rec/<key>.xml endpoint parses to a row with neither a 'key' nor a 'title' — i.e. dblp returned a structurally empty record for the requested record key.

Source

Thrown at clis/dblp/paper.js:36

cli({
    site: 'dblp',
    name: 'paper',
    aliases: ['detail', 'view'],
    access: 'read',
    description: 'Fetch a dblp record by canonical key (e.g. conf/nips/VaswaniSPUJGKP17)',
    domain: 'dblp.org',
    strategy: Strategy.PUBLIC,
    browser: false,
    args: [
        { name: 'key', positional: true, required: true, help: 'dblp record key (round-tripped from the `key` column of `dblp search`)' },
    ],
    columns: PAPER_COLUMNS,
    func: async (args) => {
        const key = requireRecordKey(args.key);
        const xml = await dblpFetchXml(`/rec/${encodeURI(key)}.xml`, 'dblp paper');
        const row = recordXmlToRow(xml);
        if (!row.key && !row.title) {
            throw new EmptyResultError('dblp paper', `dblp returned an empty record for key "${key}".`);
        }
        return [row];
    },
});

View on GitHub (pinned to 49907e53dc)

Solutions

1. Verify the record key on dblp.org (the key appears in the bibtex/URL of the entry)
2. Use `dblp search '<title>'` to find the correct record key
3. Check for typos in venue name, year, and first-author parts of the key
4. Retry — occasionally dblp serves incomplete responses under load

Example fix

// before
opencli dblp paper conf/wrongconf/2023/xyz
// Error: dblp returned an empty record for key "conf/wrongconf/2023/xyz".
// after
opencli dblp search 'the paper title'   # then use the returned key

const REC_KEY_PATTERN = /^[a-z]+\/[^\s/]+\/[^\s/]+$/i; // e.g. conf/nips/2017/foo
if (!REC_KEY_PATTERN.test(key)) throw new Error(`Suspicious dblp record key: ${key}`);

function looksLikeRecordKey(k) {
  return typeof k === 'string' && /^[a-z]+\/[\w.-]+\/[\w.-]+$/.test(k);
}

try {
  rows = await dblpPaper({ key });
} catch (err) {
  if (/empty record for key/.test(err.message)) {
    rows = await dblpSearch({ query: key.split('/').pop() }); // search by key tail
  } else throw err;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling `dblp paper <key>` with a record key whose fetched XML contains no usable fields — invalid/nonexistent record key, deleted dblp record, or a malformed response body.

Common situations: Typo in the dblp record key (e.g. missing venue prefix or wrong year); record removed from dblp; key copied from a wrong source; case/slash mistakes like 'conf/nipsFoo'.

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

• No dblp author matched "${name}". Try a different spelling,
• dblp PID ${pid}${resolvedName ? ` (${resolvedName})` : ''} h
• No publications matched "${query}".
• dblp returned 404 — the requested record may not exist.
• No dblp venues matched "${query}".

AI-assisted analysis of jackwener/OpenCLI@49907e53dc (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/7ba0436b32c3cadd. Report an issue: GitHub.