paperclipai/paperclip · error · Error

ctx.db.execute only allows INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE

Error message

ctx.db.execute only allows INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE

What it means

Mutation guard in validatePluginRuntimeExecute: the statement does not start with INSERT INTO, UPDATE, or DELETE FROM. ctx.db.execute is the plugin write API restricted to those three DML forms; the disallowed statement is at fault.

Source

Thrown at server/src/services/plugin-database.ts:285

    if (ref.schema === namespace) continue;
    if (ref.schema === "public") {
      assertAllowedPublicRead(ref, allowedCoreReadTables);
      continue;
    }
    throw new Error(`ctx.db.query cannot read schema "${ref.schema}"`);
  }
}

export function validatePluginRuntimeExecute(query: string, namespace: string): void {
  const statements = splitSqlStatements(query);
  if (statements.length !== 1) {
    throw new Error("Plugin runtime SQL must contain exactly one statement");
  }
  const statement = statements[0]!;
  assertNoBannedSql(statement);
  const normalized = normaliseSql(statement);
  if (!/^(insert\s+into|update|delete\s+from)\b/.test(normalized)) {
    throw new Error("ctx.db.execute only allows INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE");
  }
  if (/\b(alter|create|drop|truncate)\b/.test(normalized)) {
    throw new Error("ctx.db.execute cannot contain DDL keywords");
  }

  const refs = extractQualifiedRefs(statement);
  const target = refs.find((ref) => ["into", "update", "from"].includes(ref.keyword));
  if (!target || target.schema !== namespace) {
    throw new Error(`ctx.db.execute target must be inside plugin namespace "${namespace}"`);
  }
  for (const ref of refs) {
    if (ref.schema !== namespace) {
      throw new Error("ctx.db.execute cannot reference public or other non-plugin schemas");
    }
  }
}

function bindSql(statement: string, params: readonly unknown[] = []): SQL {

View on GitHub (pinned to 120ae5428f)

Solutions

1. Use ctx.db.query for SELECT; ctx.db.execute only allows INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE.

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at server/src/services/plugin-database.ts:285 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of paperclipai/paperclip@120ae5428f (2026-08-18). Data as JSON: /api/errors/b204f97924e08e5d. Report an issue: GitHub.