theonedev/onedev · error · RuntimeException

"Malformed query"

Error message

"Malformed query"

What it means

WorkspaceQuery.parse feeds the query text through an ANTLR lexer/parser with error listeners installed; any lexical or syntactic error is converted to a RuntimeException with message 'Malformed query'. It signals the query string does not conform to the workspace query grammar.

Source

Thrown at server-core/src/main/java/io/onedev/server/search/entity/workspace/WorkspaceQuery.java:103

	public static WorkspaceQuery parse(@Nullable String queryString) {
		return parse(null, queryString, false);
	}

	public static WorkspaceQuery parse(@Nullable Project project, @Nullable String queryString) {
		return parse(project, queryString, false);
	}

	public static WorkspaceQuery parse(@Nullable Project project, @Nullable String queryString, boolean withCurrentUserCriteria) {
		if (queryString != null) {
			CharStream is = CharStreams.fromString(queryString);
			WorkspaceQueryLexer lexer = new WorkspaceQueryLexer(is);
			lexer.removeErrorListeners();
			lexer.addErrorListener(new BaseErrorListener() {

				@Override
				public void syntaxError(Recognizer<?, ?> recognizer, Object offendingSymbol, int line,
						int charPositionInLine, String msg, RecognitionException e) {
					throw new RuntimeException("Malformed query", e);
				}

			});
			CommonTokenStream tokens = new CommonTokenStream(lexer);
			WorkspaceQueryParser parser = new WorkspaceQueryParser(tokens);
			parser.removeErrorListeners();
			parser.setErrorHandler(new BailErrorStrategy());
			QueryContext queryContext = parser.query();
			CriteriaContext criteriaContext = queryContext.criteria();
			Criteria<Workspace> workspaceCriteria;
			if (criteriaContext != null) {
				workspaceCriteria = new WorkspaceQueryBaseVisitor<Criteria<Workspace>>() {

					@Override
					public Criteria<Workspace> visitOperatorCriteria(OperatorCriteriaContext ctx) {
						switch (ctx.operator.getType()) {
						case Pending:
							return new PendingCriteria();

View on GitHub (pinned to d44925c47c)

Solutions

1. Validate the query text against the workspace query grammar (balanced quotes, valid operators, valid order clauses).
2. Wrap parse() in try-catch and surface the raw query back to the user for correction.
3. Test the query interactively in the OneDev UI query editor before hardcoding it.

Example fix

// before
var query = WorkspaceQuery.parse("name ~ 'foo"); // unbalanced quote
// after
var query = WorkspaceQuery.parse("name ~ \"foo\"");

if (queryText.chars().filter(c -> c == '"').count() % 2 != 0) throw new IllegalArgumentException("Unbalanced quotes in query");

try {
    var query = WorkspaceQuery.parse(queryText);
} catch (RuntimeException e) {
    if (e.getMessage() != null && e.getMessage().contains("Malformed query")) {
        // show queryText to user for correction
    } else throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling WorkspaceQuery.parse with text containing unbalanced quotes, invalid operators, bad ordering syntax, or unrecognized tokens.

Common situations: Hand-written query with a stray quote or keyword; programmatic query construction concatenating strings incorrectly; pasting queries from docs for a different entity type.

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.

• Parsing and encoding errors: unexpected token, malformed input — why parsers reject input and how to find the real culprit.

Related errors

• Malformed query
• Unexpected operator: ${operatorText}
• Malformed query
• Malformed query
• Malformed query

AI-assisted analysis of theonedev/onedev@d44925c47c (2026-09-06). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e29ff7c5bcd234e2. Report an issue: GitHub.