read_gbq: Runtime error when given table name for a view

[jayqi]

When I try to use read_gbq where I pass in the name of a view, I get a runtime error caused by an unhandled 400 error from the API.

It looks like read_gbq tries to use the tabledata.list method which is not supported by the BigQuery API for views. I would expect read_gbq to be able to handle this query and use an appropriate API method.

As a work around, I am able to run the query SELECT * FROM my_dataset.my_table instead.

Environment details

• OS type and version: macOS 15.3.1 on M4 Pro
• Python version: 3.13.2
• pandas-gbq version: 0.28.0
• google-cloud-bigquery version: 3.30.0

Code example

import pandas_gbq as pd_gbq 

pd_gbq.read_gbq("my_dataset.my_table")

where my_table is a VIEW

Error

GenericGBQException: Reason: 400 GET <API URL redacted>: Cannot list a table of type VIEW.