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Fix: KickoffTaskOutputsSQLiteStorage crashes on list values and NULL fields - #7814

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mayuriphad:fix/kickoff-task-outputs-storage-crash
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mayuriphad wants to merge 4 commits into
crewAIInc:mainfrom
mayuriphad:fix/kickoff-task-outputs-storage-crash

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@mayuriphad

@mayuriphad mayuriphad commented Sep 29, 2026 •

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Summary

Fixes #7746.

KickoffTaskOutputsSQLiteStorage has two related bugs in lib/crewai/src/crewai/memory/storage/kickoff_task_outputs_storage.py:

  1. update() only JSON-encodes values that are a dict:

    json.dumps(value, cls=CrewJSONEncoder) if isinstance(value, dict) else value

    Passing a list (e.g. update(0, output=["a", "b"])) skips encoding, and sqlite3 cannot bind a Python list directly, so this raises sqlite3.ProgrammingError: Error binding parameter: type 'list' is not supported.

  2. load() unconditionally calls json.loads() on the output/inputs columns. If either is NULL in the database (e.g. after update(0, output=None)), this raises TypeError: the JSON object must be str, bytes or bytearray, not NoneType, which is not caught by the surrounding except sqlite3.Error, so it propagates unhandled and breaks load() for the entire table.

Fix

  • update(): encode list values the same way as dict values (isinstance(value, (dict, list))).
  • load(): only call json.loads() when the column value isn't None, otherwise store None.

Test plan

  • Added test_update_accepts_list_values: updates a row's output with a list and asserts it round-trips correctly.
  • Added test_load_handles_null_output_and_inputs: sets output/inputs to None via update and asserts load() returns None for those fields instead of raising.
  • Verified both new tests fail against the pre-fix code with exactly the errors described in the issue, and pass with the fix.
  • Ran the full existing test file: uv run pytest tests/storage/test_kickoff_task_outputs_storage.py -v — 5 passed.

Note

Low Risk
Localized persistence-layer fix with backward-compatible reads; no auth or API surface changes, though callers may now see raw legacy values instead of crashes.

Overview
Fixes kickoff task output SQLite round-tripping so update()/load() no longer crash on lists, NULL, scalars, or legacy bad rows.

update() now treats output and inputs as JSON columns via _JSON_COLUMNS: any non-None value is json.dumps’d (not only dicts), and None is stored as SQL NULL. That fixes sqlite binding errors for lists and decode failures when scalars were written unencoded.

load() decodes those columns through _decode_json_column, which returns None for SQL NULL and falls back to the raw value (with a warning) when JSON parsing fails—covering pre-fix unencoded strings and invalid UTF-8 blobs so one bad row does not break the whole table.

Adds focused tests for list/NULL/scalar updates, legacy unencoded JSON, and non-UTF-8 column data.

Reviewed by Cursor Bugbot for commit bf2632f. Bugbot is set up for automated code reviews on this repo. Configure here.

…SQLiteStorage

update() only JSON-encoded values that were a dict, so passing a list
(e.g. output=[...]) raised sqlite3.ProgrammingError since sqlite3 can't
bind Python lists directly. Encode lists the same way as dicts.

load() unconditionally called json.loads() on the output/inputs
columns. If either was NULL (e.g. after update(..., output=None)),
this raised an uncaught TypeError that broke load() for the whole
table. Skip json.loads() when the column is NULL.
Copilot AI balanced review requested due to automatic review settings September 29, 2026 13:35

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Copilot was unable to review this pull request because the user who requested the review has reached their quota limit.

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  • lib/crewai/src/crewai/memory/storage/kickoff_task_outputs_storage.py
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📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

KickoffTaskOutputsSQLiteStorage.update JSON-encodes non-None values in the output and inputs columns. load preserves None, decodes valid JSON, and returns raw values when decoding fails. Tests cover these storage and loading cases.

Changes

Kickoff task output storage

Layer / File(s) Summary
Serialization, loading, and tests
lib/crewai/src/crewai/memory/storage/kickoff_task_outputs_storage.py, lib/crewai/tests/storage/test_kickoff_task_outputs_storage.py
update JSON-encodes non-None values in the output and inputs columns. load preserves None, decodes valid JSON, and returns raw values when decoding fails. Tests cover list, string, and numeric round-trips, NULL fields, legacy unencoded strings, and non-UTF-8 bytes.

Priority: ➖ Normal

Severity of issue fixed: Medium

Merge Risk: ⚪ Minimal · up to bf263

The storage change covers the reported value and legacy-data cases; no material merge risk is evident.

Security Architecture Review

Security architecture risk: 🔵 Low · up to bf263

The change is narrowly scoped, but malformed saved records can now reach replay after mutable state restoration has begun. Existing identity checks and write transactions remain intact. No new privilege grant is established.

Retained concerns

  • Low · reliability · inferred: Tolerant loading moves rejection of malformed saved outputs past the start of mutable replay restoration. With matching task keys, a NULL or undecodable prior output passes identity validation; replay then assigns inputs, may interpolate tasks and agents, and may restore earlier task outputs before reconstruction fails. Replay has no enclosing rollback for these mutations. The base rejected these rows during load, before restoration began. This introduces failed-replay state drift, not proven unauthorized execution: identity checks remain enforced and malformed prior outputs fail before task execution.
Security review details

Security Blast Radius

  • inferred — The demonstrated path affects records in the selected SQLite database and the corresponding Crew instance during replay. Influencing it requires access to the storage API or database contents. Repository evidence does not establish an untrusted writer, remote entrypoint, cross-tenant scope or additional privileges.

Trust Boundaries and Controls

  • observed — Replay retains requested-task lookup, duplicate-identity rejection and exact task-key prefix matching, with a legacy description/expected-output fallback. Matching task keys validate identity rather than output shape. The storage change does not grant tool authority; task execution remains a later replay step.

Resilience and Maintainability Implications

  • inferred — Tolerant reads improve access to unaffected records, but replay recovery is not atomic across input interpolation and prior-output restoration. Malformed prior outputs can leave mutated in-memory state after failure, although they do not reach task execution through that failing restoration path.

Hardening Proposals

  • proposed — Preserve tolerant storage reads for inspection, but validate the complete replay prefix and selected inputs before mutating crew, task or agent state. Alternatively, stage restoration and publish it only after successful validation.
🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 5
✅ Passed checks (5 passed)
Check name Status Explanation
Title check ✅ Passed The title clearly identifies the affected storage class and the main failures addressed: list values and NULL fields.
Description check ✅ Passed The description identifies the related issue, explains the bug and fix, and lists tests and verification. It omits the template’s Additional context section and understates the implementation: the cha…
Linked Issues check ✅ Passed Issue #7746 requires JSON-column updates to accept JSON-serializable values and load() to tolerate NULL values and decoding failures. update() JSON-encodes every non-None value in output and `…
Out of Scope Changes check ✅ Passed The implementation changes serialization and decoding for the output and inputs columns in KickoffTaskOutputsSQLiteStorage. The added tests cover the same update and load failure modes described…
Docstring Coverage ✅ Passed Docstring coverage is 90.00% which is sufficient. The required threshold is 80.00%. Docstring coverage is scoped to functions touched by this diff. Analyzed 10 functions across 2 files.
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update() only JSON-encoded dict/list values, so a scalar (e.g. a plain
string or int) written to the output/inputs columns went in unencoded.
load() unconditionally json.loads()s those columns, so round-tripping
a scalar through update()/load() raised json.JSONDecodeError.

Encode every non-None value written to a JSON column, keyed off a
_JSON_COLUMNS set rather than the value's type, so plain columns
(task_key, expected_output, task_index, was_replayed) are unaffected.
Also make load() tolerant of a row written by the pre-fix update()
that left a JSON column unencoded, instead of crashing the whole
table read on one malformed legacy row.
@mayuriphad

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Addressed the linked-issue check's finding: update() now JSON-encodes every non-None value written to the output/inputs JSON columns (keyed off a _JSON_COLUMNS set), not just dict/list, so a scalar like update(0, output="just a string") round-trips through load() correctly instead of raising json.JSONDecodeError. load() also now tolerates a row written by the old update() that left a JSON column unencoded, logging a warning and returning the raw value instead of crashing the whole table read. Added tests for both cases; full suite (7 tests) passes.

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Actionable comments posted: 1


  • 🪄 Fix CodeRabbit comments on this PR
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Inline comments:
Review comments at
@lib/crewai/src/crewai/memory/storage/kickoff_task_outputs_storage.py:
- Around line 187-190: Update _decode_json_column to catch UnicodeDecodeError
alongside JSONDecodeError and TypeError, so invalid UTF-8 legacy BLOB values use
the existing raw-value fallback.

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@mayuriphad

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Hi maintainers, a gentle ping on this PR whenever you have a moment to review. I'm happy to make any changes or add tests if something needs adjusting. Thank you for your time!

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[BUG]KickoffTaskOutputsSQLiteStorage.update()/load() crash on non-dict values and NULL fields

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