diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/composables/useNavigationTargets.ts b/apps/desktop/src/composables/useNavigationTargets.ts
index 743820e80..df9e8aed7 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/composables/useNavigationTargets.ts
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/composables/useNavigationTargets.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import * as api from "@/lib/api";
 import { effectiveDatabaseTypeForConnection, metadataSchemaForConnection } from "@/lib/jdbcDialect";
+import { isNoSnapshotErrorResult } from "@/lib/queryResultError";
 import { buildTableSelectSql } from "@/lib/tableSelectSql";
 import { editableRowIdentifierColumns, usesSyntheticRowIdKey } from "@/lib/tableEditing";
 import { useConnectionStore } from "@/stores/connectionStore";
@@ -92,6 +93,24 @@ async function openTableTarget(target: NavigationTarget, options: { tableInfoTab
       primaryKeys: [],
     });
     await queryStore.executeTabSql(tabId, sql);
+    // executeTabSql surfaces query failures as an "Error" result instead of throwing.
+    // A snapshot-less lake table fails the data preview above but its metadata still
+    // reads fine — retry with LIMIT 0 so the user sees the table structure (columns +
+    // empty grid) rather than a cryptic server error. The flag also skips the
+    // synthetic-row-id re-query below, which is another data read that would fail
+    // the same way on a snapshot-less table.
+    const fellBackToLimitZero = isNoSnapshotErrorResult(queryStore.tabs.find((tab) => tab.id === tabId)?.result);
+    if (fellBackToLimitZero) {
+      const emptySql = await buildTableSelectSql({
+        databaseType: effectiveDbType,
+        schema: target.schema,
+        tableName: target.tableName,
+        whereInput: target.whereInput,
+        limit: 0,
+      });
+      queryStore.updateSql(tabId, emptySql);
+      await queryStore.executeTabSql(tabId, emptySql);
+    }
     try {
       const columns = await api.getColumns(target.connectionId, target.database, querySchema, target.tableName);
       const indexes = await api.listIndexes(target.connectionId, target.database, querySchema, target.tableName).catch(() => []);
@@ -104,7 +123,7 @@ async function openTableTarget(target: NavigationTarget, options: { tableInfoTab
         columns,
         primaryKeys,
       });
-      if (useRowId || config.db_type === "tdengine") {
+      if (!fellBackToLimitZero && (useRowId || config.db_type === "tdengine")) {
         const newSql = await buildTableSelectSql({
           databaseType: effectiveDbType,
           schema: target.schema,
diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/lib/__tests__/queryResultError.spec.ts b/apps/desktop/src/lib/__tests__/queryResultError.spec.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..43263f479
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/lib/__tests__/queryResultError.spec.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+
+import type { QueryResult } from "@/types/database";
+
+import { isNoSnapshotErrorResult } from "@/lib/queryResultError";
+
+function errorResult(message: string): QueryResult {
+  return { columns: ["Error"], rows: [[message]], affected_rows: 0, execution_time_ms: 0 };
+}
+
+function dataResult(columns: string[]): QueryResult {
+  return { columns, rows: [], affected_rows: 0, execution_time_ms: 0 };
+}
+
+describe("isNoSnapshotErrorResult", () => {
+  it("matches the StarRocks Paimon no-snapshot error surfaced via executeTabSql", () => {
+    const result = errorResult("Server error: `ERROR HY000 (1064): There is currently no snapshot.`");
+    expect(isNoSnapshotErrorResult(result)).toBe(true);
+  });
+
+  it("matches case-insensitively", () => {
+    const result = errorResult("there IS currently NO snapshot");
+    expect(isNoSnapshotErrorResult(result)).toBe(true);
+  });
+
+  it("does not match unrelated query errors", () => {
+    expect(isNoSnapshotErrorResult(errorResult("Unknown table 'tag_test.record_tag_t'"))).toBe(false);
+    expect(isNoSnapshotErrorResult(errorResult("ERROR 1142: SELECT command denied"))).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  it("does not match successful data results", () => {
+    expect(isNoSnapshotErrorResult(dataResult(["id", "name"]))).toBe(false);
+    expect(isNoSnapshotErrorResult(dataResult(["Error"]))).toBe(false); // data column literally named Error, no rows
+  });
+
+  it("returns false for missing or empty results", () => {
+    expect(isNoSnapshotErrorResult(undefined)).toBe(false);
+    expect(isNoSnapshotErrorResult(null)).toBe(false);
+    expect(isNoSnapshotErrorResult({ ...errorResult("There is currently no snapshot."), rows: [] })).toBe(false);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/lib/queryResultError.ts b/apps/desktop/src/lib/queryResultError.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e15d0b999
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/lib/queryResultError.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+import type { QueryResult } from "@/types/database";
+
+// Lake/external tables (e.g. Paimon in StarRocks) return this error on a data
+// read when no snapshot exists yet, while metadata reads (DESC/SHOW CREATE)
+// still succeed. executeTabSql surfaces query failures as an "Error" result, so
+// callers can detect this case and fall back to a structure-only (LIMIT 0)
+// preview instead of showing a cryptic server error.
+const NO_SNAPSHOT_ERROR_PATTERN = /there is currently no snapshot/i;
+
+export function isNoSnapshotErrorResult(result: QueryResult | undefined | null): boolean {
+  if (!result || !result.columns.includes("Error") || result.rows.length === 0) return false;
+  return NO_SNAPSHOT_ERROR_PATTERN.test(String(result.rows[0]?.[0] ?? ""));
+}