vxcontrol/pentagi · error

pgvector store is not initialized

Error message

pgvector store is not initialized

What it means

The search tool's `Handle` was invoked while its pgvector-backed store field is nil, so no vector search can be performed. `IsAvailable()` returns false in this state; this error enforces that contract for direct calls that bypass the availability check.

Source

Thrown at backend/pkg/tools/search.go:81

		store:             store,
		embedder:          embedder,
		db:                db,
		maxEmbeddingBytes: maxEmbeddingBytes,
		vslp:              vslp,
		knp:               knp,
	}
}

func (s *search) Handle(ctx context.Context, name string, args json.RawMessage) (string, error) {
	ctx, observation := obs.Observer.NewObservation(ctx)
	logger := logrus.WithContext(ctx).WithFields(enrichLogrusFields(s.flowID, s.taskID, s.subtaskID, logrus.Fields{
		"tool": name,
		"args": string(args),
	}))

	if s.store == nil {
		logger.Error("pgvector store is not initialized")
		return "", fmt.Errorf("pgvector store is not initialized")
	}

	switch name {
	case SearchAnswerToolName:
		var action SearchAnswerAction
		if err := json.Unmarshal(args, &action); err != nil {
			logger.WithError(err).Error("failed to unmarshal search answer action arguments")
			return "", fmt.Errorf("failed to unmarshal %s search answer action arguments: %w", name, err)
		}

		filters := map[string]any{
			"doc_type":    searchVectorStoreDefaultType,
			"answer_type": action.Type,
		}

		metadata := langfuse.Metadata{
			"tool_name":     name,
			"message":       action.Message,

View on GitHub (pinned to ea665308ba)

Solutions

1. Check `IsAvailable()` before invoking the tool and exclude it from the agent's toolset when false.
2. Verify pgvector/Postgres connectivity and DSN env config; restart the backend after fixing.
3. Inspect startup logs for the vector-store initialization error that left the store nil.
4. Fix the wiring so construction fails fast instead of registering a tool with a nil store.

Example fix

// before
out, err := searchTool.Handle(ctx, tools.SearchAnswerToolName, args)
// after
if !searchTool.IsAvailable() {
    return errors.New("search tool unavailable: pgvector store not initialized")
}
out, err := searchTool.Handle(ctx, tools.SearchAnswerToolName, args)

if !searchTool.IsAvailable() {
    return errors.New("search tool unavailable: pgvector store not initialized")
}

func usable(s *search.Search) bool {
    return s != nil && s.IsAvailable()
}

if err := handle(ctx, name, args); err != nil {
    if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "pgvector store is not initialized") {
        return fallbackKeywordSearch(ctx, args) // degrade gracefully
    }
    return err
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling `search.Handle(ctx, name, args)` when `NewSearch` was constructed without a vector store (pgvector unreachable at startup, disabled by config) or the store failed to initialize, instead of checking `IsAvailable()` first.

Common situations: Postgres/pgvector not running or wrong DSN at container start; vector-store feature disabled via env config but agent config still lists the search tools; construction error swallowed so the tool object exists with a nil store.

Related errors

• failed to get flow vector store log: %w
• memory is not available
• pgvector store is not initialized
• failed to create flow vector store log: %w
• failed to prepare primary agent chain for subtask %d: %w

AI-assisted analysis of vxcontrol/pentagi@ea665308ba (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/d4c85d538e152285. Report an issue: GitHub.