V2 Example query returns nil

v2: Troubleshooting
1

${query[[ from p = index.tag “page” order by p.lastModified desc select p.name limit 3]]} returns “Lua error: attempting to call nil as a function”

${query[[from index.tag ]]} returns “Lua error: collection is nil”

What did I miss?

2

Hi Russ,
Try this:

${query[[
  from p = index.tag "page" 
  order by p.lastModified desc 
  select p.name
  limit 3
]]}

In the text you pasted you are using “page” instead of "page" - different " characters - doesn’t reproduce the same error at my end but give it a ago with this fix.

For the second thing you need to specify what you’re looking for:

${query[[from index.tag "page"]]}
-- or
${query[[from index.tag "meta"]]}
-- and so on....

Good luck!

3

Thanks for the suggestions, Spectral…but no joy.

I think there’s something wrong with my “index.tag” like there’s nothing in it.

I only have 197 files in my space, and nothing custom in my Library *(yet), and re-indexing takes For. Ever. I’m not sure it even finishes.

What do I need to do to clobber all the SB data?

4

This suggests indexing is stuck somewhere. Can you have a look at your JavaScript console and see if there is anything suspicious going on there?

5

I have been deleting the SB index in Firefox (all of the site data, for all sites, actually) between attempts. I even rebooted a time or two…

I had a particular file getting mentioned over and over. It was symlinked to another folder on the same drive, so I deleted the link.

I next removed the bulk of my files from the SB_FOLDER. They are in folders which are all symlinks to other folders on the drive. My Space now has about 2 dozen files, a bit of custom Lua in Library, and my STYLES.md – indexing during troubleshooting will be faster at least!

I saw a “logo.png” getting indexed over and over, so I renamed it “logo.PNG” and the messages stopped. I changed it back to “logo.png” and it got indexed once.

I noticed that when I browsed to the Silverbullet site on the web I got the “something wrong with your indexer, restart your browser”.

I’m running the Ad Nauseum extension, and I’ve turned it off for both SB on the web and my localhost:3000 pages.

EDIT: I scoured the Space for links and removed them all. It now completes indexing (per the JS console in Firefox).

Queries against “index.tab” still don’t work.

6

Do you have any plugs installed?

7

I had TreeView, but I took it out and still get query error.

To be clear: is it enough to just delete site data for Localhost and Silverbullet in my browser? Do I need to re-start anything else? (I get the “sync engine” error every time I open my Space for the first time)

8

Here’s the troubleshooting page that shows you to reset and disable various things: Troubleshooting If you add ?resetClient=1 to your URL, it will wipe all local stuff and start out clean. That’s worth trying.

What you were describing sounded a lot like an issue Silversearch was having a little while back, but if you don’t have that plug installed that can’t be it either.

9

resetClient didn’t fix it.

I tried installing Chromium, and a tiny browser called “LuaKit” – nope.

Now I’m getting this in a terminal window, over and over:

2025/10/06 11:00:19 Error deleting file: cannot delete file _plug/core.plug.js: read-only file
2025/10/06 11:00:19 Error deleting file: cannot delete file _plug/editor.plug.js: read-only file
2025/10/06 11:00:19 Error deleting file: cannot delete file _plug/emoji.plug.js: read-only file

#> sudo reboot now :face_with_spiral_eyes:

10

Err whut? What version are you running and in what environment? Docker?

11

version 2.1.7-0-g5be6297, running the binary in a terminal window, no docker

of course, now i’ve rebooted and it stopped doing the strange message

EDIT: also Firefox 143.0.3 (64-bit), Linux Mint 22.2 Zara base: Ubuntu 24.04 noble

12

I removed my STYLES.md from the Space, and …

IT WORKS!!!

Thanks for the guidance. I don’t know yet what I did wrong, but I have a bunch of new troubleshooting tools to make notes on !!!

13

Errr whut? What was in your styles file?

14

Once I figure out what I did, I’ll post it here.

I’m sure it was a bad quote, or a === where I needed ==, or an Alt-Meta-Shift-Unicode-Rubles sign that summoned a demon.