What causes "The custom user status name is already in use" in RocketChat/Rocket.Chat?

List existing statuses first (listCustomUserStatus) and pick a unique name before saving

RocketChat/Rocket.Chat · error · Meteor.Error

Custom_User_Status_Error_Name_Already_In_Use

Custom_User_Status_Error_Name_Already_In_Use

Error message

The custom user status name is already in use

What it means

A custom user status with the same name already exists: the method found a conflicting document via findOneByName (on create) or findOneByNameExceptId (on update, excluding the record being edited). Custom status names must be unique.

Source

Thrown at apps/meteor/server/meteor-methods/users/insertOrUpdateUserStatus.ts:60

	// allow all characters except >, <, &, ", '
	// more practical than allowing specific sets of characters; also allows foreign languages
	const nameValidation = /[><&"']/;

	if (nameValidation.test(userStatusData.name)) {
		throw new Meteor.Error('error-input-is-not-a-valid-field', `${userStatusData.name} is not a valid name`, {
			method: 'insertOrUpdateUserStatus',
			input: userStatusData.name,
			field: 'Name',
		});
	}

	const conflictingUserStatus = userStatusData._id
		? await CustomUserStatus.findOneByNameExceptId(userStatusData.name, userStatusData._id, { projection: { _id: 1 } })
		: await CustomUserStatus.findOneByName(userStatusData.name, { projection: { _id: 1 } });

	if (conflictingUserStatus) {
		throw new Meteor.Error('Custom_User_Status_Error_Name_Already_In_Use', 'The custom user status name is already in use', {
			method: 'insertOrUpdateUserStatus',
		});
	}

	const validStatusTypes = ['online', 'away', 'busy', 'offline'];
	if (userStatusData.statusType && validStatusTypes.indexOf(userStatusData.statusType) < 0) {
		throw new Meteor.Error('error-input-is-not-a-valid-field', `${userStatusData.statusType} is not a valid status type`, {
			method: 'insertOrUpdateUserStatus',
			input: userStatusData.statusType,
			field: 'StatusType',
		});
	}

	if (!userStatusData._id) {
		// insert user status
		const createUserStatus: InsertionModel<ICustomUserStatus> = {
			name: userStatusData.name,
			statusType: userStatusData.statusType,

View on GitHub (pinned to b2c16d5842)

Solutions

List existing statuses first (listCustomUserStatus) and pick a unique name before saving
When updating, exclude the current record's _id from your duplicate check
Catch this code and surface 'name already in use' next to the input field

Example fix

// before
await Meteor.callAsync('insertOrUpdateUserStatus', { name });

// after — pre-check for duplicates (still keep the catch for races)
const existing = (await Meteor.callAsync('listCustomUserStatus')).some(
	(s) => s.name === name && s._id !== editingId,
);
if (existing) {
	showInlineError('name already in use');
	return;
}
await Meteor.callAsync('insertOrUpdateUserStatus', { name });

Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

const existing = (await Meteor.callAsync<ICustomUserStatus[]>('listCustomUserStatus'))
	.some((s) => s.name === name && s._id !== editingId);
if (existing) {
	setFieldError('name', 'Name already in use');
	return;
}

Try / catch

try {
	await Meteor.callAsync('insertOrUpdateUserStatus', data);
} catch (err) {
	if (err instanceof Meteor.Error && err.error === 'Custom_User_Status_Error_Name_Already_In_Use') {
		// server-authoritative duplicate — prompt for a different name (race with pre-check)
	}
}

Prevention

Pre-check names against listCustomUserStatus before save, but keep the catch for races
When renaming, exclude the edited record's _id from the duplicate check
Make create-status forms idempotent on retry instead of resubmitting the same name

When it happens

Trigger: Creating a status whose name matches an existing one; renaming a status to a name another status already uses.

Common situations: Two admins creating similar statuses concurrently; renaming into an existing name; re-running an import/setup script that creates the same status twice.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of RocketChat/Rocket.Chat@b2c16d5842 (2026-08-18). Data as JSON: /api/errors/f1cd46a081037b88. Report an issue: GitHub.