quickwit-oss/quickwit · error

failed to parse query: `{}`

Error message

failed to parse query: `{}`

What it means

parse_user_query converts free-text user input into a query AST using tantivy's query grammar parser. This error is raised when the user_text fails tantivy::query_grammar::parse_query — meaning the query syntax itself is invalid (unbalanced quotes/parens, dangling operators, illegal syntax). The full offending query text is embedded in the message.

Source

Thrown at quickwit/quickwit-query/src/query_ast/user_input_query.rs:66

impl UserInputQuery {
    /// Parse the user query to generate a structured QueryAST, without any UserInputQuery node.
    ///
    /// The `UserInputQuery` have an optional search_fields property that takes precedence over
    /// the `default_search_fields`.
    ///
    /// In quickwit, the search fields in the `UserInputQuery` are usually supplied with the user
    /// request.
    /// The default_search_fields argument on the other hand, is the default search fields defined
    /// in the `DocMapper`.
    pub fn parse_user_query(&self, default_search_fields: &[String]) -> anyhow::Result<QueryAst> {
        let search_fields = self
            .default_fields
            .as_ref()
            .map(|search_fields| &search_fields[..])
            .unwrap_or(default_search_fields);
        let user_input_ast = tantivy::query_grammar::parse_query(&self.user_text)
            .map_err(|_| anyhow::anyhow!("failed to parse query: `{}`", &self.user_text))?;
        let default_occur = match self.default_operator {
            BooleanOperand::And => Occur::Must,
            BooleanOperand::Or => Occur::Should,
        };
        convert_user_input_ast_to_query_ast(
            user_input_ast,
            default_occur,
            search_fields,
            self.lenient,
        )
    }
}

impl From<UserInputQuery> for QueryAst {
    fn from(user_text_query: UserInputQuery) -> Self {
        QueryAst::UserInput(user_text_query)
    }
}

View on GitHub (pinned to a39730c5cd)

Solutions

1. Fix the query syntax: balance quotes and parentheses, ensure AND/OR/NOT have operands
2. Sanitize/escape user input before embedding it in the query string
3. Simplify to plain terms to isolate which token breaks parsing
4. If building queries programmatically, use the typed QueryAst API instead of string concatenation

Example fix

// before
let q = format!("field:{}", user_input); // user_input = "foo "bar""
// after: escape quotes / use typed AST
let q = format!("field:{}", escape_query_syntax(user_input));

fn query_parses(q: &str) -> bool { tantivy::query_grammar::parse_query(q).is_ok() }

match parse_user_query(&query) {
    Err(e) => {
        // return 400 to the client with the invalid query text
        Err(bad_request(format!("invalid query syntax: {e}")))
    }
    Ok(ast) => Ok(ast),
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling UserInputQuery::parse_user_query (via query AST conversion of a user-supplied query string) with text tantivy's grammar rejects: unbalanced quotes, unmatched parentheses, operators like AND/OR/NOT with no operands, or invalid field:value syntax.

Common situations: REST/gRPC clients sending raw user-typed search strings with stray characters; programmatic query builders interpolating values containing quotes or special chars; empty or operator-only query strings.

Understand the failure class

Background: "Invalid ... format", "must be in format X", "does not look like a ..." — invalid argument format errors across CLI tools and libraries — this error's family across 17 libraries.

• Parsing and encoding errors: unexpected token, malformed input — why parsers reject input and how to find the real culprit.

Related errors

• The user query should be valid.
• read-only
• Unsupported minimum should match dsl {}. quickwit currently
• fields and default_field cannot be both set in `query_string
• both gt and gte are set

AI-assisted analysis of quickwit-oss/quickwit@a39730c5cd (2026-09-08). Data as JSON: /api/errors/295a09b61836e45b. Report an issue: GitHub.