quickwit-oss/quickwit · error

Internal error: Got sort_value2, but no sort extractor

Error message

Internal error: Got sort_value2, but no sort extractor

What it means

When a leaf search response contains a second sort value (sort_value2) for search_after handling, the collector requires the corresponding second sort extractor (score_extractor.second) to exist. A response carrying sort_value2 without its extractor indicates the root and leaf disagree on the sort configuration, so the code panics as an internal error.

Solutions

1. Verify all cluster nodes run the same quickwit version
2. Confirm the search request's second sort field resolves to a valid extractor (not score/mixed incorrectly)
3. Reproduce with the exact query JSON and check sort field parsing in the root handler
4. If it persists, capture the query and open a bug with the reproduction

// Before issuing a two-sort search_after query, confirm both sort fields exist in the index mapping:
GET /_fields — verify "field1" and "field2" are indexed and sortable.

fn has_second_extractor(hit: &PartialHit) -> bool {
    hit.sort_value2.is_some() // only build search_after when leaf returned extractor-consistent values
}

When it happens

Trigger: A query with two sort fields where the leaf built sort values but the extractor tuple's second element is None; typically mismatched sort field resolution between root and leaf (e.g. sort field exists on leaf but wasn't set as extractor at root, or a tantivy/quickwit version skew).

Common situations: Elasticsearch-compatible search_after requests with two-level sorting; rolling upgrades where nodes run different quickwit versions and serialize sort metadata differently.

Understand the failure class

Background: "This is a bug, please report it": internal invariant violations, unreachable panics, and SNH errors explained — this error's family across 47 libraries.

Related errors

• Sort by more than 2 fields is not supported yet.
• 60 should be non-zero
• `assign_jobs` should return at least one client or fail.
• closure always returns Some
• compactor service enabled but no compaction client available

AI-assisted analysis of quickwit-oss/quickwit@a39730c5cd (2026-09-08). Data as JSON: /api/errors/4ea7fb40567ba6f5. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at quickwit/quickwit-search/src/top_k_collector.rs:859

                .first
                .convert_to_u64_ff_val(search_after_sort_value, sort_order1)
            {
                sort_value = Some(new_value);
            } else {
                // Value is out of bounds, we ignore sort_value2 and disable the whole
                // search_after
                return None;
            }
        }
        let mut sort_value2 = None;
        if let Some(search_after_sort_value) = search_after
            .sort_value2
            .and_then(|sort_value2| sort_value2.sort_value)
        {
            let extractor = score_extractor
                .second
                .as_ref()
                .expect("Internal error: Got sort_value2, but no sort extractor");
            if let Some(new_value) =
                extractor.convert_to_u64_ff_val(search_after_sort_value, sort_order2)
            {
                sort_value2 = Some(new_value);
            }
        }
        Some(Self {
            sort_value,
            sort_value2,
            compare_on_equal: !search_after.split_id.is_empty(),
            doc_id: search_after.doc_id,
        })
    }
}

View on GitHub (pinned to a39730c5cd)