zylon-ai/private-gpt · error · RuntimeError

Failed to extract file info

Error message

Failed to extract file info

What it means

RuntimeError from IngestionHelper.validate_file_info when the file_info argument is falsy — None, an empty object, or anything that fails the truthiness check. It is the first statement of a static method, so it fires before any size/extension validation and signals that upstream extraction (metadata probing of the uploaded file) never produced a FileInfo.

Source

Thrown at private_gpt/components/ingest/ingest_helper.py:21

from llama_index.core.schema import BaseNode

from private_gpt.components.ingest.metadata_helper import MetadataHelper
from private_gpt.components.ingest.progress.errors import IngestionValidationErrors
from private_gpt.components.ingest.utils import FileInfo, should_ignore_mime_mismatch
from private_gpt.settings.settings import settings
from private_gpt.utils.mime import is_magic_available

logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)


class IngestionHelper:
    @staticmethod
    def validate_file_info(
        file_info: FileInfo,
    ) -> tuple[list[str], list[str]]:
        if not file_info:
            raise RuntimeError("Failed to extract file info")

        errors = []
        warnings = []

        # Check if the file info has size
        if file_info.file_size is None or file_info.file_size <= 0:
            errors.append(IngestionValidationErrors.INVALID_FILE_SIZE)

        # Check if the file info has extension
        if not file_info.extension:
            errors.append(IngestionValidationErrors.UNKNOWN_FILE_EXTENSION)

        if is_magic_available() and not file_info.actual_mime_type:
            errors.append(IngestionValidationErrors.UNKNOWN_FILE_EXTENSION)

        if (
            file_info.guest_mime_type
            and file_info.actual_mime_type

View on GitHub (pinned to 4a030776a3)

Solutions

1. Fix the upstream step that produces FileInfo so it never returns None (raise on extraction failure instead)
2. Check the upload actually contains a readable, non-empty file before validation
3. Pass a fully populated FileInfo: file_size > 0 and a non-empty extension, or validation will continue flagging errors
4. Add a guard where FileInfo is built: if extraction fails, surface that error rather than forwarding None

Example fix

# before
file_info = extract_file_info(maybe_missing_upload)  # returns None
errors, warnings = IngestionHelper.validate_file_info(file_info)  # RuntimeError

# after
file_info = extract_file_info(upload)
if file_info is None:
    raise ValueError('could not read upload metadata')
errors, warnings = IngestionHelper.validate_file_info(file_info)

if file_info is None or not file_info:
    raise ValueError('file info missing: file metadata extraction failed or upload empty')

def has_file_info(fi) -> TypeGuard[FileInfo]:
    return bool(fi)

try:
    errors, warnings = IngestionHelper.validate_file_info(file_info)
except RuntimeError as e:
    if 'Failed to extract file info' in str(e):
        return error_response(400, 'could not read file metadata; re-upload the file')
    raise

When it happens

Trigger: Calling IngestionHelper.validate_file_info(file_info) with file_info=None or an empty FileInfo, e.g. when the file-metadata extraction step upstream returned nothing for a missing, unreadable, or zero-byte upload.

Common situations: Upload endpoints where the file metadata probe silently swallows exceptions and returns None; temp file deleted before validation; multipart form missing the file field; code paths that construct FileInfo only on success and pass an uninitialized variable otherwise.

Related errors

• File input requires valid base64 encoded content
• Invalid system specification (dict): {system}
• Invalid system item in list (dict): {item}
• 'oneOf' must be an array of schemas
• 'anyOf' must be an array of schemas

AI-assisted analysis of zylon-ai/private-gpt@4a030776a3 (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/18bb8081689835f9. Report an issue: GitHub.