t8y2/dbx · error

SQL is required

Error message

SQL is required

What it means

getExplainInfo prefixes EXPLAIN to a SQL statement and executes it to capture the query plan. The statement text is trimmed (trimStatementSQL) and must be non-empty; an empty statement has nothing to explain, so this error is returned before touching the connection.

Solutions

1. Provide the actual SQL statement text in the explain request
2. Check the input after trimming — statements made only of comments count as empty
3. Ensure the calling UI/tool passes the current query buffer, not a stale empty variable
4. Add client-side validation that the SQL field is non-blank before sending

Example fix

// before
plan, err := server.getExplainInfo(userInput) // userInput = "-- nothing"
// after
if strings.TrimSpace(strings.TrimPrefix(userInput, "--")) == "" {
    return errors.New("SQL is required")
}
plan, err := server.getExplainInfo(userInput)

if strings.TrimSpace(strings.TrimPrefix(sqlText, "--")) == "" {
    return errors.New("SQL is required")
}

plan, err := server.getExplainInfo(sqlText)
if err != nil && err.Error() == "SQL is required" {
    return fmt.Errorf("cannot EXPLAIN empty statement")
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling getExplainInfo with "", whitespace-only text, or a string that consists solely of comments/terminators that trimStatementSQL strips away.

Common situations: Client sends explain request with an empty editor buffer; the SQL variable was never populated from a template; statement contained only a comment ('-- hint') which trims to empty; copy-paste lost the query text.

Understand the failure class

Background: Missing required parameter errors: what 'X is required' and 'the required X param is missing' mean, and how to fix them — this error's family across 27 libraries.

Related errors

• SQL is required
• sql is required
• MongoDB explain verbosity must be queryPlanner…
• SQL is empty
• sql is required

AI-assisted analysis of t8y2/dbx@c0390bff16 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/151601bc800cff44. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at agents/drivers/argo-go/metadata.go:801

		}
		lines := make([]string, 0, len(result.Rows))
		for _, row := range result.Rows {
			if line := firstRowValue(row); line != "" {
				lines = append(lines, line)
			}
		}
		if len(lines) == 0 {
			continue
		}
		return strings.Join(lines, "\n") + "\n", nil
	}
	return "", nil
}

func (server *server) getExplainInfo(sqlText string) (string, error) {
	sqlText = trimStatementSQL(sqlText)
	if sqlText == "" {
		return "", errors.New("SQL is required")
	}
	result, err := server.executeQuery(queryOptions{SQL: "EXPLAIN " + sqlText, MaxRows: metadataQueryLimit})
	if err != nil {
		return "", err
	}
	lines := make([]string, 0, len(result.Rows))
	for _, row := range result.Rows {
		lines = append(lines, firstRowValue(row))
	}
	return strings.Join(lines, "\n"), nil
}

func (server *server) completionAssistantSearch(input completionAssistantRequest) (completionAssistantResponse, error) {
	maxResults := input.MaxResults
	if maxResults <= 0 {
		maxResults = 200
	}
	schemas := []string{firstNonEmpty(input.Schema, input.Database, server.config.Database)}

View on GitHub (pinned to c0390bff16)