sequelize/sequelize · error · Error

JSON Paths are not supported in ${this.dialect.name} without

Error message

JSON Paths are not supported in ${this.dialect.name} without unquoting the JSON value.

What it means

MSSQL's jsonPathExtractionQuery only supports reading JSON values via JSON_VALUE (which always returns an unquoted scalar). Sequelize cannot safely produce a quoted-path query in MSSQL, so when called with unquote=false it throws rather than generate SQL that would return a quoted JSON string fragment the caller does not expect.

Source

Thrown at packages/mssql/src/query-generator-typescript.internal.ts:320

  createSavepointQuery(savepointName: string): string {
    return `SAVE TRANSACTION ${this.quoteIdentifier(savepointName)}`;
  }

  rollbackSavepointQuery(savepointName: string): string {
    return `ROLLBACK TRANSACTION ${this.quoteIdentifier(savepointName)}`;
  }

  generateTransactionId(): string {
    return randomBytes(10).toString('hex');
  }

  jsonPathExtractionQuery(
    sqlExpression: string,
    path: ReadonlyArray<number | string>,
    unquote: boolean,
  ): string {
    if (!unquote) {
      throw new Error(
        `JSON Paths are not supported in ${this.dialect.name} without unquoting the JSON value.`,
      );
    }

    return `JSON_VALUE(${sqlExpression}, ${this.escape(buildJsonPath(path))})`;
  }

  formatUnquoteJson(arg: Expression, options?: EscapeOptions) {
    return `JSON_VALUE(${this.escape(arg, options)})`;
  }

  versionQuery() {
    // Uses string manipulation to convert the MS Maj.Min.Patch.Build to semver Maj.Min.Patch
    return `DECLARE @ms_ver NVARCHAR(20);
SET @ms_ver = REVERSE(CONVERT(NVARCHAR(20), SERVERPROPERTY('ProductVersion')));
SELECT REVERSE(SUBSTRING(@ms_ver, CHARINDEX('.', @ms_ver)+1, 20)) AS 'version'`;
  }

View on GitHub (pinned to 7e1deec499)

Solutions

Use a path/getter that unquotes (the default for scalar reads) so Sequelize uses JSON_VALUE.
If you need the raw quoted value, read the parent JSON column and navigate in JS rather than via a SQL path.
Update Sequelize/mssql to a version where the JSON-path API enforces unquote:true for MSSQL automatically.

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

// On MSSQL, force unquote for any JSON path read
function mssqlJsonPath(path) {
  // Always read scalar via JSON_VALUE (unquoted)
  return jsonPathExtractionQuery(column, path, true);
}

Prevention

Treat MSSQL JSON path reads as scalar-only (JSON_VALUE).
Do not port PostgreSQL/SQLite JSON-path queries to MSSQL without enabling unquote.
For full JSON nodes, read the column and parse in JS.

When it happens

Trigger: Using a JSON path operator/getter on a model attribute where the ORM internally calls jsonPathExtractionQuery with unquote=false — e.g. querying `Model.findAll({ where: { 'data.path': value } })` without unquoting, or a where on a nested JSON path that resolves to a string the caller compares as a scalar.

Common situations: Where-clauses on nested JSON properties on MSSQL; using the jsonPath feature ported from PostgreSQL/SQLite (which supports both modes) without adapting for MSSQL's JSON_VALUE-only model.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of sequelize/sequelize@7e1deec499 (2026-08-03). Data as JSON: /data/errors/aedaf4aefd38ff23.json. Report an issue: GitHub.