What causes "failed to parse jdbc url" in risingwavelabs/risingwave?

Use the canonical form `jdbc:postgresql://host:port/dbname?user=...&password=...`.

failed to parse jdbc url

Error message

failed to parse jdbc url

What it means

After stripping the `jdbc:` prefix, `parse_jdbc_url` parses the remainder with the `url` crate. If the remaining string is not a valid absolute URL (bad scheme/host syntax, unparseable authority, invalid characters), the parse error is wrapped with this context: 'failed to parse jdbc url'.

Solutions

Use the canonical form `jdbc:postgresql://host:port/dbname?user=...&password=...`.
URL-encode special characters (e.g. `@`, `#`, spaces) in user/password via percent-encoding.
Verify no stray whitespace or quotes were pasted into the `jdbc.url` property.
Test the URL by stripping `jdbc:` and confirming it parses as a standard postgres URL.

Example fix

// before
jdbc.url = 'jdbc:postgresql://my host:5432/db'
// after
jdbc.url = 'jdbc:postgresql://my-host:5432/db'

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

let stripped = jdbc_url.strip_prefix("jdbc:").unwrap();
assert!(url::Url::parse(stripped).is_ok(), "jdbc url must parse after stripping jdbc: prefix");

Try / catch

match sink_creation_result { Err(e) if e.to_string().contains("failed to parse jdbc url") => { /* fix and resubmit CREATE SINK */ }, ... }

Prevention

Percent-encode special characters in user/password.
Avoid spaces and stray quotes in the URL property.
Test the URL with any standard URL parser before applying.

When it happens

Trigger: A URL like `jdbc:postgresql:host:5432/db` or `jdbc:postgresql:///db` without a host, or containing spaces/illegal characters, that fails `Url::parse` after the `jdbc:` prefix is removed.

Common situations: Typos such as missing `//` after the scheme; unencoded special characters (spaces, `#`) in password or database name; hand-edited URLs in sink properties.

Understand the failure class

Background: "Invalid URL" errors: why new URL(), URI.parse, and reqwest::Url reject your string — missing scheme, whitespace, and bad path format — this error's family across 39 libraries.

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

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of risingwavelabs/risingwave@6469eb736d (2026-09-11). Data as JSON: /api/errors/fb6230207cd343c1. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at src/stream/src/from_proto/sink.rs:398

    host: String,
    port: u16,
    db_name: String,
    username: Option<String>,
    password: Option<String>,
}

fn parse_jdbc_url(url: &str) -> anyhow::Result<JdbcUrl> {
    if !url.starts_with("jdbc:postgresql") {
        bail!(
            "invalid jdbc url, to switch to postgres rust connector, we need to use the url jdbc:postgresql://..."
        )
    }

    // trim the "jdbc:" prefix to make it a valid url
    let url = url.replace("jdbc:", "");

    // parse the url
    let url = Url::parse(&url).map_err(|e| anyhow!(e).context("failed to parse jdbc url"))?;

    let scheme = url.scheme();
    assert_eq!("postgresql", scheme, "jdbc scheme should be postgresql");
    let host = url
        .host_str()
        .ok_or_else(|| anyhow!("missing host in jdbc url"))?;
    let port = url
        .port()
        .ok_or_else(|| anyhow!("missing port in jdbc url"))?;
    let Some(db_name) = url.path().strip_prefix('/') else {
        bail!("missing db_name in jdbc url");
    };
    let mut username = None;
    let mut password = None;
    for (key, value) in url.query_pairs() {
        if key == "user" {
            username = Some(value.to_string());
        }

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