# Reader fixes for JSON, CSV and Tavily

> Agno's JSONReader keeps a scalar JSON root as one document, CSVReader reads text streams, both CSV readers reject a negative page_size, and TavilyReader sends its extract options to Tavily.

- Published: 2026-09-23
- Author: DDDonut
- Categories: Changelog
- Canonical: https://www.agno.com/articles/reader-fixes-for-json-csv-and-tavily
- Markdown: https://www.agno.com/articles/reader-fixes-for-json-csv-and-tavily.md

Every output below is real, from Agno's `JSONReader`, `CSVReader`, `FieldLabeledCSVReader` and `TavilyReader` on the previous release and on this one.

### `JSONReader` keeps a scalar JSON root as one document

A JSON file can hold a single string, number, boolean or `null` at its root. `JSONReader` used to wrap only an object in a list before it built documents. A string root became one document per character, an empty string produced no documents, and a number, boolean or `null` raised `TypeError`. `JSONReader` now turns every root that is not an array into one document:

```text
File                          Before                                  Now
"Agno docs home page"         19 docs: '"A"', '"g"', '"n"', '"o"'...  1 doc: '"Agno docs home page"'
42                            TypeError 'int' object is not iterable  1 doc: '42'
true                          TypeError 'bool' object is not iterable 1 doc: 'true'
null                          TypeError 'NoneType' object is not ...  1 doc: 'null'
""                            0 docs                                  1 doc: '""'
```

Objects and arrays read the same as before.

### `CSVReader` reads text streams

`CSVReader.read()` and `CSVReader.async_read()` called `.decode()` on whatever the file object returned. A `StringIO` or a file opened in text mode returns a `str`, so the call failed. The reader caught the error, logged it and returned an empty list. `CSVReader` now decodes only bytes and passes text through:

```text
Before: ERROR Error reading <_io.StringIO ...>: 'str' object has no attribute 'decode'
        read(StringIO) -> 0 docs
Now:    read(StringIO) -> 1 docs ['name, role\nAda, engineer\nLin, designer']
```

### Both CSV readers reject a negative `page_size`

`CSVReader.async_read()` and `FieldLabeledCSVReader.async_read()` split a file with more than 10 rows into pages of `page_size` rows. A negative `page_size` produced no pages, so the reader returned no documents and logged nothing. Both readers now check `page_size` before they touch the file and raise `ValueError`, which leaves your stream where it was:

```text
Before: CSVReader.async_read(page_size=-1)             -> 0 docs
        FieldLabeledCSVReader.async_read(page_size=-1) -> 0 docs
Now:    CSVReader.async_read(page_size=-1)             -> ValueError page_size cannot be a negative value.
        FieldLabeledCSVReader.async_read(page_size=-1) -> ValueError page_size cannot be a negative value.
```

A `page_size` of `0` on a file with more than 10 rows still logs `range() arg 3 must not be zero` and returns no documents, so pass a positive value.

### `TavilyReader` sends its extract options

`TavilyReader` takes `extract_depth` and `extract_format`, but its request to Tavily Extract sent the depth under a `depth` key and left out the format. Tavily never received either setting. `TavilyReader` now sends `extract_depth` and `format` on both `read()` and `async_read()`. Values in `params` still override them. The request for `TavilyReader(extract_depth="advanced", extract_format="text")`:

```text
Before: {'urls': ['https://docs.agno.com'], 'depth': 'advanced'}
Now:    {'urls': ['https://docs.agno.com'], 'extract_depth': 'advanced', 'format': 'text'}
```

See the [cookbook](https://github.com/agno-agi/agno/blob/main/cookbook/07_knowledge/09_archive/readers/csv_reader_async.py), and learn more about [readers](https://docs.agno.com/knowledge/concepts/readers/overview), the [CSV reader](https://docs.agno.com/knowledge/concepts/readers/csv-reader) and the [JSON reader](https://docs.agno.com/knowledge/concepts/readers/json-reader) in the documentation.