RocketChat/Rocket.Chat · error · Meteor.Error

error-invalid-user

error-invalid-user

Error message

Invalid user

What it means

Thrown by the deprecated getTotalChannels Meteor method when the connection has no authenticated user (Meteor.userId() is null). The method only counts public channels (Rooms.countDocuments({ t: 'c' })) but still requires a logged-in caller, and it logs a deprecation warning pointing to /v1/channels.list ahead of removal in 9.0.0.

Source

Thrown at apps/meteor/server/meteor-methods/rooms/getTotalChannels.ts:18

import type { ServerMethods } from '@rocket.chat/ddp-client';
import { Rooms } from '@rocket.chat/models';
import { Meteor } from 'meteor/meteor';

import { methodDeprecationLogger } from '../../lib/deprecationWarningLogger';

declare module '@rocket.chat/ddp-client' {
	// eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/naming-convention
	interface ServerMethods {
		getTotalChannels(): number;
	}
}

Meteor.methods<ServerMethods>({
	getTotalChannels() {
		methodDeprecationLogger.method('getTotalChannels', '9.0.0', '/v1/channels.list');
		if (!Meteor.userId()) {
			throw new Meteor.Error('error-invalid-user', 'Invalid user', {
				method: 'getTotalChannels',
			});
		}

		return Rooms.countDocuments({ t: 'c' });
	},
});

View on GitHub (pinned to b2c16d5842)

Solutions

1. Guard with Meteor.userId() and defer the call until login completes
2. Re-authenticate if the session token expired
3. Replace with GET /api/v1/channels.list (count from the response total) since the method is deprecated

Example fix

// before (deprecated + auth-gated)
const total = await Meteor.callAsync('getTotalChannels');

// after - REST count
const res = await fetch('/api/v1/channels.list?count=0', {
  headers: { 'X-Auth-Token': token, 'X-User-Id': uid },
});
const total = (await res.json()).total;

if (!Meteor.userId()) {
  throw new Error('login required');
}
const total = await Meteor.callAsync('getTotalChannels');

try {
  const total = await Meteor.callAsync('getTotalChannels');
} catch (e) {
  if (e instanceof Meteor.Error && e.error === 'error-invalid-user') {
    showLoginScreen();
  }
}

When it happens

Trigger: Meteor.call('getTotalChannels') from an anonymous connection: directory or guest pages that render before login, post-logout reactive recomputation, or an expired resume token.

Common situations: Directory-style UIs loading channel counts on startup; older clients or apps-engine code on the DDP method; sessions cleared by password reset or admin token purge.

Related errors

• error-invalid-user
• error-invalid-user
• error-invalid-user
• error-invalid-user
• error-invalid-user

AI-assisted analysis of RocketChat/Rocket.Chat@b2c16d5842 (2026-08-18). Data as JSON: /api/errors/83ebbf06b809ae8f. Report an issue: GitHub.