RocketChat/Rocket.Chat · error · Meteor.Error

error-invalid-user

error-invalid-user

Error message

Invalid user

What it means

Thrown inside saveNotificationSettingsMethod's helper getNotificationPrefValue when the requested value is 'default' and the userId param is empty. Resolving 'default' requires reading the caller's server-level user preference, which is impossible without a user; the code guards that with 'error-invalid-user'. The exported method receives userId from its callers, so this fires when it is invoked with a falsy user id (unauthenticated DDP call or a server-side caller passing '').

Source

Thrown at apps/meteor/server/meteor-methods/users/saveNotificationSettings.ts:41

	| 'audioNotificationValue';
declare module '@rocket.chat/ddp-client' {
	// eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/naming-convention
	interface ServerMethods {
		saveNotificationSettings(roomId: string, field: NotificationFieldType, value: string): boolean;
		saveAudioNotificationValue(subId: string, value: string): boolean;
	}
}

export const saveNotificationSettingsMethod = async (
	userId: string,
	roomId: string,
	field: NotificationFieldType,
	value: string,
): Promise<boolean> => {
	const getNotificationPrefValue = async (field: string, value: unknown) => {
		if (value === 'default') {
			if (!userId) {
				throw new Meteor.Error('error-invalid-user', 'Invalid user', {
					method: 'saveNotificationSettings',
				});
			}

			const userPref = await getUserNotificationPreference(userId, field);
			return userPref?.origin === 'server' ? null : userPref;
		}
		return { value, origin: 'subscription' };
	};

	const notifications = {
		desktopNotifications: {
			updateMethod: async (subscription: ISubscription, value: unknown) =>
				Subscriptions.updateNotificationsPrefById(
					subscription._id,
					await getNotificationPrefValue('desktop', value),
					'desktopNotifications',
					'desktopPrefOrigin',

View on GitHub (pinned to b2c16d5842)

Solutions

1. Authenticate before calling: ensure Meteor.userId() is set (or pass a real user id to the exported method).
2. In server code, skip the call when no user context exists instead of passing '' as userId.
3. Use the REST endpoint POST /v1/rooms.saveNotification with valid auth credentials.

Example fix

// before: fires after logout because value is 'default' and userId is falsy
await saveNotificationSettingsMethod('', rid, 'desktopNotifications', 'default');

// after: only resolve 'default' with a real user; otherwise store the literal value
if (value === 'default' && !userId) throw new Meteor.Error('error-invalid-user', 'Invalid user');
await saveNotificationSettingsMethod(userId, rid, 'desktopNotifications', value);

const uid = Meteor.userId();
const safeValue = uid ? value : (value === 'default' ? 'all' : value);
// or skip the call entirely when resolving 'default' is impossible:
if (value === 'default' && !uid) return showError('Log in to use default preferences');
await Meteor.callAsync('saveNotificationSettings', rid, field, value);

const hasUserContext = (userId: string | null | undefined): userId is string =>
  typeof userId === 'string' && userId.length > 0;

try {
  await saveNotificationSettingsMethod(userId, rid, field, value);
} catch (e) {
  if ((e as Meteor.Error).error === 'error-invalid-user' && value === 'default') {
    // resolving 'default' needs a user; fall back to an explicit value
    await saveNotificationSettingsMethod(userId, rid, field, 'all');
  }
}

When it happens

Trigger: Meteor.call('saveNotificationSettings', roomId, 'desktopNotifications', 'default') while logged out (wrapper passes Meteor.userId() = null downstream in older paths); server code importing saveNotificationSettingsMethod and passing an empty userId with value 'default'.

Common situations: Preference panels that submit 'default' after session expiry; background jobs reusing the method without a user context.

Related errors

• error-invalid-user
• error-invalid-user
• error-not-allowed
• invalid-user
• error-invalid-user

AI-assisted analysis of RocketChat/Rocket.Chat@b2c16d5842 (2026-08-18). Data as JSON: /api/errors/2ed00fceb8209cc8. Report an issue: GitHub.