risingwavelabs/risingwave · error · ErrorCode

Invalid insert operation

Error message

Invalid insert operation: {0}

What it means

RisingWave frontend's ErrorCode::InsertViolation variant, rendered as "Invalid insert operation: {0}". It is raised by the INSERT binder (src/frontend/src/binder/insert.rs:181) when the insert statement is structurally invalid — for example the number of supplied values/columns does not match the target table, or the insert form is unsupported for the target relation.

Solutions

1. Compare the INSERT column list and each VALUES row length against SHOW COLUMNS FROM <table>.
2. Either supply an explicit column list or pad/trim the VALUES to match the table's current schema.
3. Regenerate ORM entities after any ALTER TABLE on the target table.
4. Ensure the insert target is a plain table (not a source/materialized view) if the operation is unsupported.

Example fix

// before
INSERT INTO t VALUES (1); -- t has 2 columns
// after
INSERT INTO t VALUES (1, 'x'); -- matches column count

-- before INSERT
SELECT count(*) FROM information_schema.columns WHERE table_name = 't';
-- compare with number of columns in the INSERT statement

try { await db.insert(vals) } catch (e) {
  if (/Invalid insert operation:/.test(e.message)) { await syncSchema(); throw e; }
  throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: INSERT with a value list whose arity differs from the table's column count; column list in INSERT not matching the VALUES row length; inserting into a relation that does not accept this insert shape (e.g. wrong target type).

Common situations: Schema changed (column added/removed) but the INSERT statement was not updated; ORM/generated SQL emitting stale column lists; hand-written multi-row INSERTS with mismatched row lengths.

Understand the failure class

Background: Schema validation failed / invalid input schema: payload rejected because its shape doesn't match the expected schema — this error's family across 28 libraries.

Related errors

• Duplicate Relation Name
• Invalid reference
• Item not found
• ALTER SINK_RATE_LIMIT is not for sink into table
• ALTER SOURCE_RATE_LIMIT is not for table without source

AI-assisted analysis of risingwavelabs/risingwave@6469eb736d (2026-09-11). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e8aad5f273aa2865. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at src/frontend/src/error.rs:159

    #[error("Protocol error: {0}")]
    ProtocolError(#[message] String),
    #[error("Scheduler error: {0}")]
    SchedulerError(
        #[source]
        #[backtrace]
        BoxedError,
    ),
    #[error("Task not found")]
    TaskNotFound,
    #[error("Session not found")]
    SessionNotFound,
    #[error("Invalid reference: {0}")]
    InvalidReference(String),
    #[error("Item not found: {0}")]
    ItemNotFound(String),
    #[error("Duplicate Relation Name: {0}")]
    DuplicateRelationName(String),
    #[error("Invalid insert operation: {0}")]
    InsertViolation(String),
    #[error("Invalid input syntax: {0}")]
    InvalidInputSyntax(#[message] String),
    #[error("Cannot compare in memory: {0}")]
    MemComparableError(#[from] memcomparable::Error),
    #[error("Error while de/se values: {0}")]
    ValueEncodingError(
        #[from]
        #[backtrace]
        ValueEncodingError,
    ),
    #[error("Invalid value `{config_value}` for `{config_entry}`")]
    InvalidConfigValue {
        config_entry: String,
        config_value: String,
    },
    #[error("Invalid parameter value: {0}")]
    InvalidParameterValue(String),

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