[Bug]: try_parse_json_object turns backslash escapes into spaces when valid JSON comes in a code fence or after a sentence

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Assessment

Difficulty
2/5
Estimated time
1-3 hours
Newbie friendliness
74/100
Issue type
Bug
Clarity
Clearly specified
Activity status
Active
Tech stack
python
Domain
ai

Research direction

Start in packages/graphrag/graphrag/query/llm/text_utils.py at try_parse_json_object, where the cut-out from the first { to the last } runs through the backslash .replace cleanup before any validity check. Run the reproduction script in the issue to confirm line1\nline2 comes back as line1 nline2, and check that GlobalSearch._parse_search_response in the global search search.py shows the same damage. Done means valid cut-out JSON keeps its escapes, invalid input still goes through the old cleanup and json_repair, and a regression test covers fenced and prefixed responses.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Description

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  • I have searched the existing issues and this bug is not already filed.
  • My model is hosted on OpenAI or Azure. If not, please look at the "model providers" issue and don't file a new one here.
  • I believe this is a legitimate bug, not just a question. If this is a question, please use the Discussions area.
Describe the bug

try_parse_json_object in packages/graphrag/graphrag/query/llm/text_utils.py first calls json.loads on the whole response. If the model wraps valid JSON in a markdown fence or puts a sentence before it, that call fails. The function then cuts out the text from the first { to the last } and runs a cleanup chain on it. One step of that chain is .replace("\\", " "). It runs before anything checks whether the cut-out text is already valid JSON.

So every escape inside a string value is broken, even though the cut-out text was valid:

  • \n becomes a space and the letter n. line1\nline2 comes back as line1 nline2.
  • \" becomes a space and a quote. He said \"hi\" today comes back as He said "hi " today.
  • \\ becomes two spaces. C:\\data\\x.txt comes back as C: data x.txt.
  • \t, \r and \u00e9 are broken the same way.

The same JSON without the fence parses correctly, because the first json.loads succeeds.

This function parses model output in three query paths:

  • the global search map step, GlobalSearch._parse_search_response (the description text of each key point)
  • rate_relevancy in dynamic community selection
  • DRIFT, DriftAction.search (the response text and follow_up_queries)

Map and DRIFT answers are markdown, so they often contain \n. A fenced map response is a real case: #1173 shows gemma2 on ollama returning the map response inside a ```json fence. Also, #2625 shows that response_format_json_object=True does not reach the model on main, and it reports that Qwen and Mistral on vLLM sometimes answer with prose around the JSON. I did not find a trace from OpenAI or Azure, so this mostly affects local and other non-JSON-mode providers.

Back in #801 a maintainer review asked for a json.loads check first, so valid JSON would skip the string cleanup (done in #834). That check only covers the whole response. It does not cover the object cut out of a fenced or prefixed response.

Steps to reproduce

No model is needed. With graphrag installed from main:

import json

from graphrag.query.llm.text_utils import try_parse_json_object
from graphrag.query.structured_search.global_search.search import GlobalSearch

BS = "\\"
raw = "```json\n" + '{"d": "line1' + BS + 'nline2"}' + "\n```"
expected = json.loads(raw[raw.index("{") : raw.rindex("}") + 1])
_, got = try_parse_json_object(raw, verbose=False)
print("expected:", repr(expected))
print("got:     ", repr(got))

map_raw = (
    "```json\n"
    + '{"points": [{"description": "first line' + BS + 'nsecond line, said '
    + BS + '"ok' + BS + '"", "score": 80}]}'
    + "\n```"
)
print(GlobalSearch._parse_search_response(None, map_raw))
Expected Behavior

When the cut-out object is already valid JSON, it should be returned as parsed. The cleanup and json_repair should only run when it is not valid.

Expected output:

expected: {'d': 'line1\nline2'}
got:      {'d': 'line1\nline2'}
[{'answer': 'first line\nsecond line, said "ok"', 'score': 80}]
GraphRAG Config Used
# Not needed. The reproduction calls the parser directly and uses no settings file.
Logs and screenshots

Output on main:

expected: {'d': 'line1\nline2'}
got:      {'d': 'line1 nline2'}
[{'answer': 'first line nsecond line, said  "ok "', 'score': 80}]
Additional Information
  • GraphRAG Version: 3.3.0 (main at 34b2b67)
  • Operating System: Windows 11
  • Python Version: 3.13
  • Related Issues: #1173 (fenced map response from gemma2 on ollama, fixed the regex then). #2625 (JSON mode is not sent to the model). Point 2 of #2625 also shows the backslash cleanup splitting single-quoted follow-up queries at \'. That input is not valid JSON, so the fix below does not change it.
  • I have a small fix with a regression test. After the cut-out step it tries json.loads and returns the result when it is a non-empty dict. Everything else still goes through the old cleanup path. I will open a PR that references this issue.

Validated with Claude Opus 5.5.

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