RocketChat/Rocket.Chat · error · Meteor.Error

error-invalid-user

error-invalid-user

Error message

Invalid user

What it means

Authentication gate of the channelsList Meteor method (deprecated in 9.0.0 in favor of GET /v1/channels.list): Meteor.userId() was null when the method executed. Even though the method only lists channels, it requires a logged-in user because its results are permission-filtered (e.g. view-p-room for the private-channel branch).

Source

Thrown at apps/meteor/server/meteor-methods/rooms/channelsList.ts:33

declare module '@rocket.chat/ddp-client' {
	// eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/naming-convention
	interface ServerMethods {
		channelsList(filter: string, channelType: string, limit?: number, sort?: string): { channels: IRoom[] };
	}
}

Meteor.methods<ServerMethods>({
	async channelsList(filter, channelType, limit, sort) {
		methodDeprecationLogger.method('channelsList', '9.0.0', '/v1/channels.list');
		check(filter, String);
		check(channelType, String);
		check(limit, Match.Optional(Number));
		check(sort, Match.Optional(String));

		const userId = Meteor.userId();

		if (!userId) {
			throw new Meteor.Error('error-invalid-user', 'Invalid user', {
				method: 'channelsList',
			});
		}

		const options: FindOptions<IRoom> = {
			projection: {
				name: 1,
				t: 1,
			},
			sort: {
				msgs: -1,
			},
		};

		if (_.isNumber(limit)) {
			options.limit = limit;
		}

View on GitHub (pinned to b2c16d5842)

Solutions

1. Await a successful login before calling channelsList (react on Meteor.userId() becoming non-null).
2. Re-authenticate if the session was invalidated, then retry.
3. Use GET /api/v1/channels.list with token auth for server-side integrations.

Example fix

// before
Meteor.call('channelsList', filter, channelType);

// after
if (Meteor.userId()) {
  Meteor.call('channelsList', filter, channelType);
} else {
  await relogin();
  Meteor.call('channelsList', filter, channelType);
}

if (!Meteor.userId()) {
  // channelsList requires a logged-in user - redirect to login instead of calling
}

try {
  const result = await Meteor.callAsync('channelsList', filter, channelType, limit, sort);
} catch (e) {
  if (e instanceof Meteor.Error && e.error === 'error-invalid-user') {
    // session gone: re-login, then retry the listing once
    await relogin();
    return Meteor.callAsync('channelsList', filter, channelType, limit, sort);
  }
  throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling Meteor.call('channelsList', filter, channelType, limit, sort) before the client's login completed; invoking after the login token expired or was invalidated; a DDP script that connects but never logs in.

Common situations: Directory/search UI loading during boot racing the Accounts login; sessions invalidated by password change or server restart; automated clients forgetting the login step.

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/e2866b82a646af0a. Report an issue: GitHub.