zylon-ai/private-gpt · error · RuntimeError

Failed to load file '{file_info.file_name}' with readers: {a

Error message

Failed to load file '{file_info.file_name}' with readers: {available}

What it means

ReaderComponent's file-loading loop tries every reader name registered for the file, collects nodes, and remembers exceptions; when every reader either raised or returned zero nodes and at least one exception occurred, it raises RuntimeError chaining the last exception (`from last_exception`). The message lists which readers were attempted, so you know the candidate set was tried and exhausted. The root cause is always in the chained exception — inspect `__cause__` for the real failure.

Source

Thrown at private_gpt/components/readers/reader_component.py:103

            nodes: list[BaseNode] = []
            async for node in loader.lazy_load_data(
                file_info,
                extra_info=extra_info,
                **load_kwargs,
            ):
                nodes.append(node)
            if nodes:
                return nodes
            logger.info(
                "Reader '%s' returned no nodes for file: %s",
                reader_name,
                file_info.file_name,
            )

        if last_exception is not None:
            available = ", ".join(reader_names)
            raise RuntimeError(
                f"Failed to load file '{file_info.file_name}' with readers: {available}"
            ) from last_exception

        return []

    def register_reader_factory(self, name: str, factory: ReaderFactory) -> None:
        self.factory_registry.register_factory(name, factory)

    def unregister_reader_factory(self, name: str) -> None:
        self.factory_registry.unregister_factory(name)

    def register_extension_reader(self, extension: str, reader_name: str) -> None:
        self.factory_registry.get_factory(reader_name)
        self.registry.register_extension_reader(extension, reader_name)

    def register_extension_readers(
        self,
        extension: str,

View on GitHub (pinned to 4a030776a3)

Solutions

Inspect the chained exception (`exc.__cause__`) — the RuntimeError is only an aggregate; fix the underlying reader error it reports.
Open the file manually with the corresponding reader dependency (e.g. a PDF library) to verify it is not corrupt or encrypted.
Confirm the optional extras for every reader listed in `available` are installed.
If the file may be malformed, add a pre-ingestion validation/quarantine step so unusable files never enter the pipeline.

Example fix

# before
try:
    nodes = component.load_file(file_info, reader_names)
except RuntimeError as e:
    logger.error(str(e))  # loses root cause

# after
try:
    nodes = component.load_file(file_info, reader_names)
except RuntimeError as e:
    logger.error("Ingestion failed: %s", e)
    logger.error("Root cause: %r", e.__cause__)

Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Try / catch

try:
    nodes = component.load_file(file_info, reader_names)
except RuntimeError as e:
    cause = e.__cause__
    logger.error("All readers failed for %s: %s", file_info.file_name, e)
    if isinstance(cause, ImportError):
        ...  # dependency problem: fix environment
    else:
        ...  # file problem: quarantine the file
    raise

Prevention

Always log e.__cause__ — the aggregate message hides the real error.
Quarantine files that fail ingestion instead of retrying them in a loop.
Pre-validate files (openable, non-encrypted) before submitting to the reader pipeline.

When it happens

Trigger: Calling the file-loading API (the method around line 103 in reader_component.py) for a file where every registered reader throws — e.g. a corrupt PDF, an unreadable/password-protected file, or a dependency failure inside each reader (see errors 200/201).

Common situations: Corrupt or truncated downloads; password-protected or DRM-protected PDFs/Office files; files with misleading extensions; optional reader dependencies missing so all candidate readers fail on import; permission errors on the storage path.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of zylon-ai/private-gpt@4a030776a3 (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/814723d56d36022d. Report an issue: GitHub.