[WARN] database doesn't exist. Skipping PublicActivity::Acti

Error message

[WARN] database doesn't exist. Skipping PublicActivity::Activity#parameters's serialization

What it means

Error "[WARN] database doesn't exist. Skipping PublicActivity::Activity#parameters's serialization" thrown in public-activity/public_activity.

Source

Thrown at lib/public_activity/orm/active_record/activity.rb:50

          # Define ownership to a resource targeted by this activity
          belongs_to :recipient, polymorphic: true
        end

        # Serialize parameters Hash
        begin
          if table_exists?
            unless %i[json jsonb hstore].include?(columns_hash['parameters'].type)
              if ::ActiveRecord.version.release < Gem::Version.new('7.1')
                serialize :parameters, Hash
              else
                serialize :parameters, coder: YAML, type: Hash
              end
            end
          else
            warn("[WARN] table #{name} doesn't exist. Skipping PublicActivity::Activity#parameters's serialization")
          end
        rescue ::ActiveRecord::NoDatabaseError
          warn("[WARN] database doesn't exist. Skipping PublicActivity::Activity#parameters's serialization")
        rescue ::ActiveRecord::ConnectionNotEstablished, ::PG::ConnectionBad, Mysql2::Error::ConnectionError
          warn("[WARN] couldn't connect to database. Skipping PublicActivity::Activity#parameters's serialization")
        end
      end
    end
  end
end

View on GitHub (pinned to 1f3a5568ad)

Solutions

Create the database: rails db:create (or createdb for PostgreSQL).
Check config/database.yml: the database name for the current RAILS_ENV must match an existing database.
If this fires during boot tasks (assets:precompile, generators) where no DB exists yet, the warning is safe to ignore.

Example fix

RAILS_ENV=production rails db:create db:migrate

When it happens

Trigger: Emitted when loading PublicActivity::Activity raises ActiveRecord::NoDatabaseError while checking the parameters column. Happens on first boot of a fresh environment where the database itself has not been created yet (before rake db:create or db:setup), in CI steps that load the Rails environment before database creation, or in generators that reference the model. The warn at lib/public_activity/orm/active_record/activity.rb:50 means serialization setup is skipped for that boot; parameters is treated as a raw column until the process reloads after the database exists.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of public-activity/public_activity@1f3a5568ad (2026-08-23). Data as JSON: /api/errors/b111a8ff4a37d5f0. Report an issue: GitHub.