Budibase/budibase · error · HTTPError

Project revision is required.

Error message

Project revision is required.

What it means

update() requires the current CouchDB _rev for optimistic concurrency; a missing _rev throws this 400 HTTPError. Without a revision the DB put could silently overwrite concurrent changes, so it is mandatory.

Source

Thrown at packages/server/src/sdk/workspace/projects/crud.ts:98

    {
      ...project,
      color: normaliseProjectColor(project.color),
      _id: docIds.generateProjectID(),
      createdAt: now,
      updatedAt: now,
    },
    { returnDoc: true }
  )

  return response.doc
}

export async function update(project: UpdateProjectInput): Promise<Project> {
  if (!project._id) {
    throw new HTTPError("Project id is required.", 400)
  }
  if (!project._rev) {
    throw new HTTPError("Project revision is required.", 400)
  }
  if (Object.hasOwn(project, "name")) {
    validateProjectName(project.name)
  }

  const db = context.getWorkspaceDB()
  const persisted = await get(project._id)
  if (!persisted) {
    throw new HTTPError(`Project with id '${project._id}' not found.`, 404)
  }

  const response = await db.put(
    {
      ...persisted,
      ...project,
      ...(Object.hasOwn(project, "color")
        ? { color: normaliseProjectColor(project.color) }
        : {}),

View on GitHub (pinned to a81a902e9a)

Solutions

1. Pass the _rev from the last fetched version of the project
2. Re-fetch the project to get a fresh _rev before updating
3. Fix payload serialisation so underscore-prefixed fields survive (whitelist rather than blacklist)
4. After a 409/conflict, re-fetch and retry with the new _rev

Example fix

// before
await sdk.projects.update({ _id: id, name: "New" })
// after
const project = await sdk.projects.get(id)
await sdk.projects.update({ _id: id, _rev: project!._rev, name: "New" })

const hasRev = (p: { _rev?: string }): p is { _rev: string } =>
  typeof p._rev === "string" && p._rev.length > 0
if (!hasRev(payload)) throw new Error("Missing project _rev")
await sdk.projects.update(payload)

const hasRev = (p: { _rev?: string }): p is { _rev: string } =>
  typeof p._rev === "string" && p._rev.length > 0

try {
  await sdk.projects.update(payload as { _id: string; _rev: string })
} catch (e) {
  if (String(e.message).includes("revision is required")) {
    const fresh = await sdk.projects.get(payload._id)
    if (fresh) await sdk.projects.update({ ...payload, _rev: fresh._rev })
  }
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling update with _id but no _rev — e.g. submitting a form payload that stripped underscore-prefixed fields, or constructing a fresh object with only the changed fields.

Common situations: Serializers/frameworks dropping _rev because of the leading underscore; clients caching a project without its revision; hand-built payloads from JSON that omitted _rev.

Understand the failure class

Background: "Missing required field" and "field is required" errors: why libraries reject payloads that omit mandatory fields — this error's family across 20 libraries.

Related errors

• Revision is required for updates
• Project id is required.
• Invalid bookmark query
• Invalid limit query
• Limit query must be between 1 and 100

AI-assisted analysis of Budibase/budibase@a81a902e9a (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/7b76704e56b0a09e. Report an issue: GitHub.