What causes "Error creating destination table" in prestodb/presto?

Inspect the ExecutionException cause for the BigQuery job error and fix the underlying issue

prestodb/presto · error · PrestoException

BIGQUERY_VIEW_DESTINATION_TABLE_CREATION_FAILED

BIGQUERY_VIEW_DESTINATION_TABLE_CREATION_FAILED

Error message

Error creating destination table

What it means

When views are enabled, getActualTable materializes a view via a DestinationTableBuilder cached by query SQL (destinationTableCache.get); an ExecutionException from that cache load is wrapped as BIGQUERY_VIEW_DESTINATION_TABLE_CREATION_FAILED. It means the background job that runs the view query and creates the destination table in BigQuery failed.

Source

Thrown at presto-bigquery/src/main/java/com/facebook/presto/plugin/bigquery/ReadSessionCreator.java:124

    {
        TableDefinition tableDefinition = table.getDefinition();
        TableDefinition.Type tableType = tableDefinition.getType();
        if (TableDefinition.Type.TABLE == tableType) {
            return table;
        }
        if (TableDefinition.Type.VIEW == tableType) {
            if (!config.viewsEnabled) {
                throw new PrestoException(NOT_SUPPORTED,
                        "Views are not enabled. You can enable views by setting 'bigquery.views-enabled' to true. Notice additional cost may occur.");
            }
            // get it from the view
            String querySql = bigQueryClient.createSql(table.getTableId(), requiredColumns);
            log.debug("querySql is %s", querySql);
            try {
                return destinationTableCache.get(querySql, new DestinationTableBuilder(bigQueryClient, config, querySql, table.getTableId()));
            }
            catch (ExecutionException e) {
                throw new PrestoException(BigQueryErrorCode.BIGQUERY_VIEW_DESTINATION_TABLE_CREATION_FAILED, "Error creating destination table", e);
            }
        }
        else {
            // not regular table or a view
            throw new PrestoException(NOT_SUPPORTED, format("Table type '%s' of table '%s.%s' is not supported",
                    tableType, table.getTableId().getDataset(), table.getTableId().getTable()));
        }
    }

    static class DestinationTableBuilder
            implements Callable<TableInfo>
    {
        final BigQueryClient bigQueryClient;
        final ReadSessionCreatorConfig config;
        final String querySql;
        final TableId table;

        DestinationTableBuilder(BigQueryClient bigQueryClient, ReadSessionCreatorConfig config, String querySql, TableId table)

View on GitHub (pinned to 55bb57d202)

Solutions

Inspect the ExecutionException cause for the BigQuery job error and fix the underlying issue
Grant the service account permission to run queries and create tables in the destination dataset/project
Verify the view itself executes in the BigQuery console
Check quotas and the configured destination dataset for view materialization

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

// preflight permissions for view materialization before querying
Policy bindings = iam.getPolicy(projectId);
boolean canCreateTables = serviceAccountHasRoles(bindings,
    Set.of("roles/bigquery.dataEditor", "roles/bigquery.jobUser"));
if (!canCreateTables) {
    throw new IllegalStateException("Service account cannot create destination tables");
}

Try / catch

try {
    return query.execute();
} catch (PrestoException e) {
    if (BIGQUERY_VIEW_DESTINATION_TABLE_CREATION_FAILED.getCode() == e.getErrorCode().getCode()) {
        Throwable root = e.getCause();
        while (root.getCause() != null) root = root.getCause();
        log.error("Destination table creation failed: %s", root.getMessage());
        // fix permissions/SQL per root cause, then retry
    }
    throw e;
}

Prevention

Grant the service account bigquery.jobs.create and dataset write access
Verify the view runs successfully in the BigQuery console first
Set a sane view destination dataset and expiration in catalog config
Unwrap and monitor the ExecutionException cause for quota/job errors

When it happens

Trigger: Querying an enabled view whose DestinationTableBuilder call fails — invalid view SQL, insufficient permissions to create tables in the dataset, BigQuery job errors, or quota limits.

Common situations: Service account lacking BigQuery jobs.create / dataset write permissions; the view's SQL referencing tables the service account cannot read; quota exceeded; destination dataset misconfigured (bigquery.view-expiration / project settings).

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of prestodb/presto@55bb57d202 (2026-09-04). Data as JSON: /api/errors/19e2d59d1b4c7d3d. Report an issue: GitHub.