This happens because you accidentally marked your table as a Remote Table. Remote tables don't store data in the ServiceNow database — they fetch it from an external source at runtime. Simply creating the table isn't enough; you must also define how it retrieves its data.
Here's how to fix it using a "Retired Workers" table as an example.
First, make sure your table schema exists. Go to System Definition > Remote Tables > Tables, click New, name it "Retired Workers" (it saves as u_st_retired_workers), add your columns like u_name, u_department, and u_retirement_date, then save.
Second, and this is the part you're missing, go to System Definition > Remote Tables > Definitions and click New. Set the Table field to Retired Workers, make sure Active is checked, set Cache TTL to something like 60 seconds, then paste in a script like this:
(function executeQuery(v_table, v_query) {
var rows = [
{ name: "Alice Johnson", dept: "Engineering", date: "2020-01-15" },
{ name: "Bob Smith", dept: "Finance", date: "2021-06-01" }
];
for (var i = 0; i < rows.length; i++) {
v_table.addRow({
sys_id: gs.generateGUID(), // required!
u_name: rows[i].name,
u_department: rows[i].dept,
u_retirement_date: rows[i].date
});
}
})(v_table, v_query);
Save that, then navigate to your table's list view and the error should be gone.
The error itself has three common causes. Either no Definition record exists at all, the Definition exists but the Active checkbox is unchecked, or the Definition was created in the wrong domain and needs to be set to Global. Check those three things and one of them will be your culprit.
One important thing to never skip: always include sys_id on every row using gs.generateGUID(). Without it the table will seem to work in list view but forms won't open properly and Workspace will break.
Once the mock data above is working, you can replace the hardcoded array with a real sn_ws.RESTMessageV2 call to whatever external API holds your actual data.
