RocketChat/Rocket.Chat · error · Meteor.Error

error-archived-duplicate-name

error-archived-duplicate-name

Error message

There's an archived channel with name ${cleanName}

What it means

In the UI_Allow_room_names_with_special_chars path, getValidRoomName slugifies the display name (limax, maintainCase) and looks up Rooms.findOneByDisplayName(displayName); a different room (room._id !== rid) with the same display name exists and its archived flag is set. Archived duplicates get a dedicated code so callers can offer 'unarchive' instead of 'rename'. Details carry function: 'RocketChat.getValidRoomName' and channel_name.

Source

Thrown at apps/meteor/server/lib/utils/lib/getValidRoomName.ts:18

import { Rooms } from '@rocket.chat/models';
import { escapeHTML } from '@rocket.chat/tools';
import limax from 'limax';
import { Meteor } from 'meteor/meteor';

import { settings } from '../../../settings';
import { validateName } from '../../shared/validateName';

export const getValidRoomName = async (displayName: string, rid = '', options: { allowDuplicates?: boolean } = {}) => {
	let slugifiedName = displayName;

	if (settings.get('UI_Allow_room_names_with_special_chars')) {
		const cleanName = limax(displayName, { maintainCase: true });
		if (options.allowDuplicates !== true) {
			const room = await Rooms.findOneByDisplayName(displayName);
			if (room && room._id !== rid) {
				if (room.archived) {
					throw new Meteor.Error('error-archived-duplicate-name', `There's an archived channel with name ${cleanName}`, {
						function: 'RocketChat.getValidRoomName',
						channel_name: cleanName,
					});
				} else {
					throw new Meteor.Error('error-duplicate-channel-name', `A channel with name '${cleanName}' exists`, {
						function: 'RocketChat.getValidRoomName',
						channel_name: cleanName,
					});
				}
			}
		}
		slugifiedName = cleanName;
	}

	let nameValidation;

	try {
		nameValidation = new RegExp(`^${settings.get('UTF8_Channel_Names_Validation')}$`);

View on GitHub (pinned to b2c16d5842)

Solutions

1. Unarchive the existing channel and reuse it
2. Delete the archived channel if it is truly dead, then retry the create
3. If the flow genuinely permits duplicate display names, pass { allowDuplicates: true } to getValidRoomName

Example fix

// before
await getValidRoomName('quarterly-reports'); // archived duplicate exists

// after
await getValidRoomName('quarterly-reports', '', { allowDuplicates: true });

import { Rooms } from '@rocket.chat/models';

const existing = await Rooms.findOneByDisplayName(displayName);
if (existing && existing._id !== rid && existing.archived) {
  // offer 'unarchive <name>' instead of creating
}

try {
  await getValidRoomName(name, rid);
} catch (error) {
  if (error instanceof Meteor.Error && error.error === 'error-archived-duplicate-name') {
    // suggest unarchiving the channel named in error.details.channel_name
  } else {
    throw error;
  }
}

When it happens

Trigger: Creating or renaming a channel to the display name of an archived channel while options.allowDuplicates is not true.

Common situations: Teams recreating archived channels instead of unarchiving them; retention policies that keep archived channels around forever; imports that archive name-colliding rooms.

Related errors

• error-duplicate-channel-name
• error-invalid-room-name
• error-room-archived
• duplicated-account
• room_is_archived

AI-assisted analysis of RocketChat/Rocket.Chat@b2c16d5842 (2026-08-18). Data as JSON: /api/errors/08f8769ea6b8930a. Report an issue: GitHub.