microsoft/semantic-kernel · error · ServiceResponseException

Error upserting record: {upsert_response.message}

Error message

Error upserting record: {upsert_response.message}

What it means

Raised in PineconeMemoryStore.upsert() when collection.upsert(...) returns a response whose upserted_count is None. ServiceResponseException wraps the server message from upsert_response.message. The collection exists and the call reached Pinecone, but Pinecone reported no confirmed upsert count.

Source

Thrown at python/semantic_kernel/connectors/memory_stores/pinecone/pinecone_memory_store.py:192

        Args:
            collection_name (str): The name of the collection to upsert the record into.
            record (MemoryRecord): The record to upsert.

        Returns:
            str: The unique database key of the record. In Pinecone, this is the record ID.
        """
        if not await self.does_collection_exist(collection_name):
            raise ServiceResourceNotFoundError(f"Collection '{collection_name}' does not exist")

        collection = self.pinecone.Index(collection_name)

        upsert_response = collection.upsert(
            vectors=[(record._id, record.embedding.tolist(), build_payload(record))],
            namespace="",
        )

        if upsert_response.upserted_count is None:
            raise ServiceResponseException(f"Error upserting record: {upsert_response.message}")

        return record._id

    async def upsert_batch(self, collection_name: str, records: list[MemoryRecord]) -> list[str]:
        """Upsert a batch of records.

        Args:
            collection_name (str): The name of the collection to upsert the records into.
            records (List[MemoryRecord]): The records to upsert.

        Returns:
            List[str]: The unique database keys of the records.
        """
        if not await self.does_collection_exist(collection_name):
            raise ServiceResourceNotFoundError(f"Collection '{collection_name}' does not exist")

        collection = self.pinecone.Index(collection_name)

View on GitHub (pinned to c028a0c7dc)

Solutions

1. Inspect upsert_response.message in the exception to get the exact Pinecone reason.
2. Verify record.embedding dimension equals the index's configured dimension.
3. Ensure record.embedding is a non-empty ndarray and record._id is a valid Pinecone id.
4. Retry on transient server messages; reduce metadata size if metadata limits are hit.

Example fix

// before
await store.upsert("my_col", record)

// after
# ensure embedding dim matches index dim, then retry on transient errors
try:
    await store.upsert("my_col", record)
except ServiceResponseException as e:
    log.error("pinecone upsert failed: %s", e)
    raise

assert record.embedding is not None and record.embedding.shape[0] == expected_dim
assert record._id and isinstance(record._id, str)
await store.upsert(collection_name, record)

def is_valid_record_for_index(record: MemoryRecord, dim: int) -> bool:
    return record.embedding is not None and record.embedding.shape[0] == dim

from semantic_kernel.exceptions import ServiceResponseException
try:
    await store.upsert(collection_name, record)
except ServiceResponseException as e:
    # e message carries upsert_response.message from Pinecone
    logger.error("upsert rejected by Pinecone: %s", e)
    raise

When it happens

Trigger: Pinecone returned a non-success response with a populated message (e.g., vector dimension mismatch with the index, malformed vector, rate limit, or a transient server error). The empty-count heuristic treats any None count as failure.

Common situations: Embedding dimension in the record differs from the index dimension; embedding field is None/empty; payload exceeds Pinecone metadata size limits; transient Pinecone-side error.

Related errors

• Collection '{collection_name}' does not exist
• Upsert failed
• Dimensionality of {default_dimensionality} exceeds the maxim
• Failed to create Pinecone settings.
• Dimensionality of {dimension_num} exceeds the maximum allowe

AI-assisted analysis of microsoft/semantic-kernel@c028a0c7dc (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/4ff2272a68bd2db2. Report an issue: GitHub.