From e2899e4dea2562aab159bc1db8ccd21a87fefcbc Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: "lancedb-gatefixer[bot]"
 <313497061+lancedb-gatefixer[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 2026 19:45:09 -0700
Subject: [PATCH] fix(node): reject unsupported FTS languages without panicking
 (#4369)
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`Index.fts({ language: "english" })` and other unsupported language
values abort the Node process because the native factory unwraps the
error returned by `FtsIndexBuilder::language`.

Convert that error into a catchable JavaScript `Error`, using the same
message as `tokenize` and Python. Add regression coverage for
`"Klingon"` and lowercase `"english"`, plus a valid English stemming and
search case across Arrow 15–18.

Validation:
- Native and TypeScript builds: `pnpm build:debug --profile ci` and
`pnpm tsc`.
- Full-text and tokenization tests: `pnpm test __test__/table.test.ts
--runInBand --testNamePattern 'full text|FTS|tokeniz'` — 69 passed.
- Rust formatting and lint: `cargo fmt --all`; `cargo clippy --profile
ci --target x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu -p lancedb-nodejs -- -D warnings`.
- TypeScript formatting and lint: `pnpm exec biome format --write
__test__/table.test.ts` and `pnpm lint`; `pnpm run docs` passed without
generated changes.

Fixes #4367

<!-- lance-gatekeeper-fix:v1 agent=271bb96150580678f4e03b8e36beca03
generation=1 -->

Co-authored-by: Gatefixer <313497061+lancedb-gatefixer[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>
---
 nodejs/__test__/table.test.ts | 22 ++++++++++++++++++++++
 nodejs/src/index.rs           |  7 ++++++-
 2 files changed, 28 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/nodejs/__test__/table.test.ts b/nodejs/__test__/table.test.ts
index 5a27b852b..837d9b608 100644
--- a/nodejs/__test__/table.test.ts
+++ b/nodejs/__test__/table.test.ts
@@ -4050,6 +4050,28 @@ describe.each(arrowVersions)(
       );
     });
 
+    test.each(["Klingon", "english"])(
+      "rejects unsupported full text language %s with a catchable error",
+      (language) => {
+        expect(() => Index.fts({ language })).toThrow(
+          new Error(
+            `LanceDB does not support the requested language: '${language}'`,
+          ),
+        );
+      },
+    );
+
+    test("full text search with a supported language", async () => {
+      const db = await connect(tmpDir.name);
+      const table = await db.createTable("test", [{ text: "running" }]);
+      await table.createIndex("text", {
+        config: Index.fts({ language: "English", stem: true }),
+      });
+
+      const results = await table.search("run").toArray();
+      expect(results.map((row) => row.text)).toEqual(["running"]);
+    });
+
     test("full text search without lowercase", async () => {
       const db = await connect(tmpDir.name);
       const data = [
diff --git a/nodejs/src/index.rs b/nodejs/src/index.rs
index 762f74870..e5884aa4d 100644
--- a/nodejs/src/index.rs
+++ b/nodejs/src/index.rs
@@ -239,7 +239,12 @@ impl Index {
             opts = opts.base_tokenizer(base_tokenizer);
         }
         if let Some(language) = language {
-            opts = opts.language(&language).unwrap();
+            opts = opts.language(&language).map_err(|_| {
+                napi::Error::from_reason(format!(
+                    "LanceDB does not support the requested language: '{}'",
+                    language
+                ))
+            })?;
         }
         if let Some(max_token_length) = max_token_length {
             opts = opts.max_token_length(Some(max_token_length as usize));