t8y2/dbx · error

custom type %s.%s is not fully defined

Error message

custom type %s.%s is not fully defined

What it means

The type row was found and scanned, but its typisdefined flag is false — the catalog entry for this type is a placeholder that is not fully defined, so the library refuses to produce details or DDL for it. PostgreSQL/Vastbase create such shells during partial type creation states; a fully usable custom type always has typisdefined = true.

Source

Thrown at agents/drivers/vastbase-go/vastbase_metadata.go:635

		if err := rows.Err(); err != nil {
			return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to read type %s.%s: %w", schema, name, err)
		}
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("custom type %s.%s does not exist", schema, name)
	}
	var oid, typbasetype, typrelid, typelem, typcollation int64
	var typtype, typalign, typstorage string
	var typisdefined, typnotnull, typbyval bool
	var typdefaultbin, typdefault, inputFn, outputFn, receiveFn, sendFn, analyzeFn, comment, collname, relkind sql.NullString
	var typlen sql.NullInt64
	var typtypmod int64
	if err := rows.Scan(&oid, &typtype, &typisdefined, &typbasetype, &typnotnull, &typrelid, &typelem, &typcollation, &typdefaultbin, &typdefault, &typlen, &typbyval, &typalign, &typstorage, &typtypmod, &inputFn, &outputFn, &receiveFn, &sendFn, &analyzeFn, &comment, &relkind, &collname); err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to read type %s.%s: %w", schema, name, err)
	}
	if err := rows.Close(); err != nil {
		return nil, err
	}
	if !typisdefined {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("custom type %s.%s is not fully defined", schema, name)
	}
	if typelem != 0 {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("custom type %s.%s is an array companion type", schema, name)
	}
	kind, ok := customTypeKindFromCode(typtype)
	if !ok {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("custom type %s.%s is a pseudo type (typtype=%s)", schema, name, typtype)
	}
	if relkind.Valid && relkind.String != "" && relkind.String != "c" {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("%s.%s is the auto-generated row type of a relation, not an independent custom type", schema, name)
	}

	properties := customTypeCommonProperties(inputFn, outputFn, receiveFn, sendFn, analyzeFn, typlen, typbyval, typalign, typstorage)
	properties.DomainConstraints = []customTypeDomainConstraint{}
	details := &customTypeDetails{
		Name:       name,
		Schema:     schema,
		Kind:       kind,

View on GitHub (pinned to c0390bff16)

Solutions

  1. Inspect the type: SELECT typname, typisdefined FROM pg_type WHERE oid='schema.name'::regclass-ish (use to_regtype); confirm typisdefined=false
  2. Complete the type definition by re-running the full CREATE TYPE (including I/O functions for base types)
  3. Drop the shell type (DROP TYPE IF EXISTS) and recreate it properly with its dependencies created first
  4. Reorder migrations so all referenced types are fully created before this lookup runs

Example fix

// before
-- migration only created a shell via function signature
details, err := srv.getTypeDetails("public", "widget") // not fully defined
// after
-- complete the type first
CREATE TYPE public.widget AS (id int, name text);
details, err := srv.getTypeDetails("public", "widget")
Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

-- ensure defined before lookup
SELECT typisdefined FROM pg_type t JOIN pg_namespace n ON n.oid=t.typnamespace WHERE n.nspname=$1 AND t.typname=$2;

Try / catch

if err != nil && strings.Contains(err.Error(), "not fully defined") { /* recreate the type */ }

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: Calling getTypeDetails on a type whose catalog row has typisdefined=false; typically seen on types left behind by an interrupted CREATE TYPE, shell types created implicitly by CREATE FUNCTION referencing a not-yet-created type, or corrupted/partial catalog state after a failed migration.

Common situations: A migration that created shell types then failed before CREATE TYPE completed; DDL generated by tools that forward-declare types; restoring a dump partially; manually created stub entries while scaffolding I/O functions.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of t8y2/dbx@c0390bff16 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/713d8a554ea14749. Report an issue: GitHub.