[BUG] MissingGreenlet error prevents all document indexing (Google Drive, ClickUp, file uploads)

[scottonamission]

Bug Description

All indexing operations fail with SQLAlchemy MissingGreenlet errors. This affects:

• Google Drive connector indexing
• ClickUp connector indexing
• Manual file uploads

Documents are parsed successfully (Docling completes, embeddings are generated) but fail when attempting to save to the database. This appears to be an async/await issue where database operations are being performed outside the greenlet context in Celery task workers.

Deployment Type

• SurfSense Cloud (hosted version)
• Self-hosted version

Steps to Reproduce

1. Deploy using quick-start Docker command
2. Go to 'Connectors' and configure Google Drive (or ClickUp, or go to Documents)
3. Click 'Quick Index' on a connector, OR click 'Upload Documents' and upload a PDF
4. Go to 'Logs' panel and see indexing task fail
5. Check Docker logs: docker logs surfsense --tail 100
6. See MissingGreenlet error

Expected Behavior

Documents should be parsed, embedded, and saved to the database. They should appear in the Documents panel.

Actual Behavior

• Docling parsing completes successfully
• Embeddings are generated successfully
• Database save fails with MissingGreenlet error
• No documents appear in the Documents panel
• Subsequent requests show "connection is closed" errors

Screenshots/Videos

N/A - Error is in logs

Environment Information

• Browser: Chrome 131
• Operating System: macOS 15.2 (Apple Silicon M4 Max)
• SurfSense Version: latest Docker image (pulled Jan 20, 2026)

Additional Environment Details (for Self-hosted only)

• Python Version: 3.12 (per container)
• Node.js Version: (bundled in container)
• Database: PostgreSQL with pgvector (bundled in container)
• Deployment Method: Docker quick-start

Additional Context

This appears to be a classic SQLAlchemy async/await bug. Per SQLAlchemy docs, MissingGreenlet occurs when:

1. Lazy loading is triggered outside an async context
2. Session objects are accessed after the async context closes
3. expire_on_commit=False is not set on AsyncSession

The error originates in Celery task files:

• document_tasks.py (line 240, 263)
• file_processors.py (line 1097)
• google_drive_indexer.py (line 60)

Possibly related to #491 and #268.

Logs/Error Messages

sqlalchemy.exc.MissingGreenlet: greenlet_spawn has not been called; can't call await_only() here. 
Was IO attempted in an unexpected place? 
(Background on this error at: https://sqlalche.me/e/20/xd2s)

File "/app/backend/app/tasks/celery_tasks/document_tasks.py", line 240, in _process_file_upload
File "/app/backend/app/tasks/document_processors/file_processors.py", line 1097, in process_file_in_background
sqlalchemy.exc.MissingGreenlet: greenlet_spawn has not been called; can't call await_only() here.

File "/app/backend/app/routes/search_source_connectors_routes.py", line 1656, in run_google_drive_indexing
File "/app/backend/app/tasks/connector_indexers/google_drive_indexer.py", line 60, in index_google_drive_files
sqlalchemy.exc.PendingRollbackError: This Session's transaction has been rolled back due to a previous exception during flush. Original exception was: greenlet_spawn has not been called

[2026-01-20 17:51:44,881: ERROR/MainProcess] Google Drive indexing completed with errors for connector 1: Folder 'Action Phase Group Support': greenlet_spawn has not been called; can't call await_only() here.

Checklist

• I have searched existing issues to ensure this is not a duplicate
• I have provided all the required information above
• I have added appropriate labels (bug, deployment type)