vitessio/vitess · error

error running vtexplain: %w

Error message

error running vtexplain: %w

What it means

The vtexplain engine initialized successfully but failed while executing/analyzing the supplied SQL (vte.Run). VTEXplain simulates routing and execution against the in-memory topology; SQL that cannot be parsed, routed, or planned produces this error.

Source

Thrown at go/vt/vtadmin/api.go:2818

	}(c)

	wg.Wait()

	if er.HasErrors() {
		return nil, er.Error()
	}

	ts := memorytopo.NewServer(ctx, vtexplain.Cell)
	srvTopoCounts := stats.NewCountersWithSingleLabel("", "Resilient srvtopo server operations", "type")
	vte, err := vtexplain.Init(ctx, api.env, ts, srvVSchema, schema, shardMap, &vtexplain.Options{ReplicationMode: "ROW"}, srvTopoCounts)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("error initilaizing vtexplain: %w", err)
	}
	defer vte.Stop()

	plans, err := vte.Run(req.Sql)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("error running vtexplain: %w", err)
	}

	response, err := vte.ExplainsAsText(plans)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("error converting vtexplain to text output: %w", err)
	}

	return &vtadminpb.VTExplainResponse{
		Response: response,
	}, nil
}

// WorkflowDelete is part of the vtadminpb.VTAdminServer interface.
func (api *API) WorkflowDelete(ctx context.Context, req *vtadminpb.WorkflowDeleteRequest) (*vtctldatapb.WorkflowDeleteResponse, error) {
	span, ctx := trace.NewSpan(ctx, "API.WorkflowDelete")
	defer span.Finish()

	span.Annotate("cluster_id", req.ClusterId)

View on GitHub (pinned to 01a25a7d17)

Solutions

1. Check the SQL for syntax errors by running it directly through vtgate or mysql.
2. Verify all tables referenced exist in the keyspace schema (GetSchema output).
3. Simplify or rewrite the statement to a supported form; start with a simple SELECT to confirm vtexplain works.
4. Inspect the wrapped error for the planner's message (e.g. 'table not found', 'vindex not found') and address it in schema/vschema.
5. Update Vitess if the query uses a newly supported construct not in this version.

Example fix

// before
"SELCT * FROM users"
// after
"SELECT * FROM users"

// Parse the SQL before submitting to vtexplain
if _, err := sqlparser.Parse(sql); err != nil {
    return fmt.Errorf("invalid SQL: %w", err)
}

plans, err := vte.Run(req.Sql)
if err != nil {
    return vterrors.Wrapf(err, vtrpcpb.Code_INVALID_ARGUMENT, "error running vtexplain for SQL %q", req.Sql)
}

When it happens

Trigger: vte.Run(req.Sql) returns an error: SQL syntax errors, unsupported statements, vindex lookup failures during routing simulation, or missing tables referenced by the query.

Common situations: User submits a query with a syntax error; query references a table absent from the keyspace's schema; query uses constructs vtexplain cannot simulate (e.g. certain DDL/admin statements); vindex columns mismatched in the query.

Related errors

• non-constant regexp
• %w: SQL query is required
• cannot find serving, non-primary tablet in keyspace=%s: %w
• GetSchema(%s): %w
• GetSrvVSchema(%s): %w

AI-assisted analysis of vitessio/vitess@01a25a7d17 (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/6f42f253f4e8834c. Report an issue: GitHub.