risingwavelabs/risingwave · error · SinkError::Config

invalid collection.name {}

Error message

invalid collection.name {}

What it means

The `collection.name` option is parsed as a MongoDB `Namespace` (database.collection) to determine where documents are written. `validate` wraps any parse failure from `Namespace::from_str` with this context message, so an unparseable or malformed collection name fails sink creation. The original mongodb parse error is attached for details.

Source

Thrown at src/connector/src/sink/mongodb.rs:314

            // but if the sink's pk is (_id, b) and the data will be:
            // { "_id": {"_id": 1, "b": 2}, "b": 2, ... }
            // in this case, the original _id field of the compound pk has been overridden
            // we should consider this is a schema error
            if self.pk_indices.len() > 1
                && self
                    .pk_indices
                    .iter()
                    .map(|&idx| self.schema.fields[idx].name.as_str())
                    .any(|field| field == MONGODB_PK_NAME)
            {
                return Err(SinkError::Config(anyhow!(
                    "primary key fields must not contain a field named _id"
                )));
            }
        }

        if let Err(err) = self.config.common.collection_name.parse::<Namespace>() {
            return Err(SinkError::Config(anyhow!(err).context(format!(
                "invalid collection.name {}",
                self.config.common.collection_name
            ))));
        }

        // checking reachability
        let client = self.config.common.build_client().await?;
        let client = ClientGuard::new(self.param.sink_name.clone(), client);
        client
            .database("admin")
            .run_command(doc! {"hello":1})
            .await
            .map_err(|err| {
                SinkError::Mongodb(anyhow!(err).context("failed to send hello command to mongodb"))
            })?;

        if self.config.drop_collection_name_field && self.config.collection_name_field.is_none() {
            return Err(SinkError::Config(anyhow!(

View on GitHub (pinned to 6469eb736d)

Solutions

1. Set collection.name in `database.collection` form, e.g. `collection='mydb.mycoll'` or use the separate database/collection options if available.
2. Remove invalid characters (spaces, dots beyond the single db/collection separator) from the value.
3. Check the wrapped mongodb error in the error chain for the exact parse reason.

Example fix

-- before
CREATE SINK s FROM mv INTO mongodb WITH (
  connector='mongodb', url='mongodb://localhost:27017', collection='mycoll'
);
-- after
CREATE SINK s FROM mv INTO mongodb WITH (
  connector='mongodb', url='mongodb://localhost:27017', collection='mydb.mycoll'
);

// collection must parse as db.collection
const parts = (sinkOptions.collection ?? "").split(".");
if (parts.length !== 2 || parts.some(p => p.length === 0)) {
  throw new Error(`collection must be in database.collection form: ${sinkOptions.collection}`);
}

When it happens

Trigger: CREATE SINK into mongodb where `collection.name` (e.g., option `collection`) is missing the `db.collection` form, contains invalid characters, or is empty.

Common situations: Providing only a collection name without the database prefix (or vice versa); typos or spaces in the option value; quoting/escaping issues in the WITH clause.

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.

Related errors

• parsing default namespace failed
• Primary key not defined for upsert mongodb sink (please defi
• collection.name.field must be specified when collection.name
• sink type unsupported: {}
• sink format unsupported: {}

AI-assisted analysis of risingwavelabs/risingwave@6469eb736d (2026-09-11). Data as JSON: /api/errors/61be6548891fe273. Report an issue: GitHub.