RocketChat/Rocket.Chat · error · Meteor.Error

error-invalid-user

error-invalid-user

Error message

The optional "userId" param provided does not match any users

What it means

Thrown by users.setPreferences after the edit-other-user check passes: Users.findOneById(userId) returns nothing, so the resolved target user does not exist.

Source

Thrown at apps/meteor/server/api/v1/users.ts:247

			authRequired: true,
			body: isUsersSetPreferencesParamsPOST,
			response: {
				200: userObjectResponse,
				400: validateBadRequestErrorResponse,
				401: validateUnauthorizedErrorResponse,
			},
		},
		async function action() {
			if (
				this.bodyParams.userId &&
				this.bodyParams.userId !== this.userId &&
				!(await hasPermissionAsync(this.user, 'edit-other-user-info'))
			) {
				throw new Meteor.Error('error-action-not-allowed', 'Editing user is not allowed');
			}
			const userId = this.bodyParams.userId ? this.bodyParams.userId : this.userId;
			if (!(await Users.findOneById(userId))) {
				throw new Meteor.Error('error-invalid-user', 'The optional "userId" param provided does not match any users');
			}

			await saveUserPreferences(this.bodyParams.data, userId);
			const user = await Users.findOneById(userId, {
				projection: {
					'settings.preferences': 1,
					'language': 1,
				},
			});

			if (!user) {
				return API.v1.failure('User not found');
			}

			return API.v1.success({
				user: {
					_id: user._id,
					settings: {

View on GitHub (pinned to f9d3ec372b)

Solutions

1. Send a valid userId that exists in this workspace, or omit it to target yourself.
2. Refresh the client's cached userId from /api/v1/me before calling.
3. Verify the user exists via users.info before editing preferences.

Example fix

null

// Confirm target exists before editing preferences
if (targetUserId) {
  const u = await GET(`users.info?userId=${encodeURIComponent(targetUserId)}`);
  if (!u?.user) return;
}

null

try {
  await POST('users.setPreferences', body);
} catch (e) {
  if (isMeteorError(e, 'error-invalid-user')) {
    // refresh client user list; the cached userId is stale
  } else { throw e; }
}

When it happens

Trigger: POST users.setPreferences with a userId (own or via edit-other-user-info) that does not match any user document.

Common situations: Stale userId in client state after account deletion; typo in userId; referencing a user from another workspace.

Related errors

• error-invalid-query
• error-invalid-date
• Invalid Api parameter provided, it must be a valid IApi obje
• Creating normal users is currently not supported
• User not provided

AI-assisted analysis of RocketChat/Rocket.Chat@f9d3ec372b (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/5bf8135809165cb4. Report an issue: GitHub.