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25P01 — no_active_sql_transaction

PostgreSQL SQLSTATE 25P01: operations such as SAVEPOINT require an explicit transaction block.

25P01 — no_active_sql_transaction

At a glance

25P01 reports that an operation needs an active SQL transaction. The selected case sends SAVEPOINT with autocommit enabled, receives the exact error while the session remains IDLE, then repeats the operation inside BEGIN and commits.

Field Value
SQLSTATE 25P01
Condition no_active_sql_transaction
Status active
Known present by 7.4
Locked snapshots 9.0.23, 9.1.24, 9.2.24, 9.3.25, 9.4.26, 9.5.25, 9.6.24, 10.23, 11.22, 12.22, 13.23, 14.24, 15.19, 16.15, 17.11, 18.6, 19beta3
Macros ERRCODE_NO_ACTIVE_SQL_TRANSACTION
Aliases —

Meaning

The source formats the statement name into %s can only be used in transaction blocks; the selected SAVEPOINT path is an ERROR. The same SQLSTATE also has COMMIT AND CHAIN/ROLLBACK AND CHAIN errors and no-transaction COMMIT/ROLLBACK warnings with the fixed text there is no transaction in progress.

Diagnosis

Check whether the client is in an explicit block before issuing SAVEPOINT, RELEASE SAVEPOINT, or ROLLBACK TO SAVEPOINT. In the selected run, the failed autocommit statement leaves IDLE; the repair uses BEGIN, SAVEPOINT, RELEASE, and COMMIT.

Response

Start an explicit transaction before creating a savepoint. If the operation was sent without a block, correct the client transaction wrapper and retry the intended operation; no rollback is needed for this autocommit error because no open failed block remains.

Source message

xact.c formats %s can only be used in transaction blocks; this case substitutes SAVEPOINT with ERROR. COMMIT AND CHAIN and ROLLBACK AND CHAIN use the same dynamic form when no block exists, while no-transaction COMMIT/ROLLBACK use the WARNING text there is no transaction in progress.

Observed diagnostics

18.6 (Homebrew) / latest: SQLSTATE 25P01; primary SAVEPOINT can only be used in transaction blocks; after-error IDLE; explicit repair INTRANS → IDLE. 10.21 (Debian 10.21-1.pgdg90+1) / pg10: SQLSTATE 25P01; primary SAVEPOINT can only be used in transaction blocks; after-error IDLE; explicit repair INTRANS → IDLE.

Representative case

The runner reads the no-block SAVEPOINT and explicit-block repair statements below from the shared registry; complete assertions, environment, and cleanup are in case export.

-- trigger
SAVEPOINT outside_block;
-- begin
BEGIN;
-- savepoint
SAVEPOINT inside_block;
-- release
RELEASE SAVEPOINT inside_block;
-- commit
COMMIT;
-- verify
SELECT 1;

The SQLSTATE, diagnostics, states, and repair assertions for this excerpt come from the shared registry (SHA-256 a1ffffc778f82789f1c1ac4027a109fc76e4b315ef2e3a5bdbfc47c8f84ce951); structured evidence.

Authored evidence IDs: identity, savepoint-path, runtime. Selected runtime records: runtime.25P01-batch2-latest-20260909.latest, runtime.25P01-batch2-pg10-20260909.pg10.

Versions and limits

The SAVEPOINT case returns 25P01 with the same primary text on 18.6 and 10.21, and the explicit-block repair finishes IDLE on both.

25005 branch transaction no active SQL transaction, 25P02 failed SQL transaction, 25006 read-only SQL transaction.

Sources

  • src.errcodes.18.6 (SHA-256 6e8de346643ba84aa3c9c6a73360acfc7b2dfb89162c06c08ce9bf5bcd5bbcba)
  • src.calls.REL_18_6 — raw/calls/REL_18_6.jsonl (SHA-256 9ee8a0e81d8f0825c5c1ae45583439859a26e602bdd4ce2f2a62aa278867ccbf)
  • src.xact.18.6 (SHA-256 75b012c0b047d1dc905a30975c244beec366e45eac0dbf109fd21bcd611a8e39)
  • doc.savepoint.18.6 (SHA-256 aa6e167d373da6118249c87404a7b2ff8be8c7df790449814f1d9dc433bbd428) · official documentation
  • src.xact.savepoint.18.6 (SHA-256 75b012c0b047d1dc905a30975c244beec366e45eac0dbf109fd21bcd611a8e39)