What causes "Message not found" in RocketChat/Rocket.Chat?

Re-fetch the message by _id (or revalidate against the local message store) before offering/performing translation.

RocketChat/Rocket.Chat · error · Meteor.Error

error-message-not-found

error-message-not-found

Error message

Message not found

What it means

'autoTranslate.translateMessage' resolves the message via Messages.findOneById(message._id) and throws error-message-not-found when no document matches. It fires after auth and check() succeed, so it is purely a data-lookup failure: the _id the client sent does not exist (anymore) in the Messages collection. Most often the message was deleted or pruned after the client rendered it.

Source

Thrown at apps/meteor/server/meteor-methods/platform/translateMessage.ts:29

	// eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/naming-convention
	interface ServerMethods {
		'autoTranslate.translateMessage'(message: IMessage | undefined, targetLanguage: string): Promise<IMessage | undefined>;
	}
}

Meteor.methods<ServerMethods>({
	async 'autoTranslate.translateMessage'(message, targetLanguage) {
		const userId = Meteor.userId();
		if (!userId) {
			throw new Meteor.Error('error-invalid-user', 'Invalid user', {
				method: 'autoTranslate.translateMessage',
			});
		}
		check(message?._id, String);
		check(targetLanguage, String);
		const msg = await Messages.findOneById(message._id);
		if (!msg) {
			throw new Meteor.Error('error-message-not-found', 'Message not found');
		}
		const room = await Rooms.findOneById(msg.rid);
		if (!room || !(await canAccessRoomAsync(room, { _id: userId }))) {
			throw new Meteor.Error('error-not-allowed', 'Not allowed');
		}
		return translateMessage(targetLanguage, msg);
	},
});

View on GitHub (pinned to b2c16d5842)

Solutions

Re-fetch the message by _id (or revalidate against the local message store) before offering/performing translation.
Catch the error and degrade gracefully - hide the translate action or show 'message no longer available'.
If it reproduces consistently, log the exact _id sent and compare it with the document in the Messages collection.

Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

// client-side: confirm the message is still in the local store before translating
if (!message?._id || !RocketChat.models?.Messages?.findOne(message._id)) {
	// message no longer available - skip translation
}

Try / catch

try {
	await Meteor.callAsync('autoTranslate.translateMessage', { _id }, lang);
} catch (e: any) {
	if (e?.error === 'error-message-not-found') {
		// drop the message from local state; do not retry with the same id
	}
}

Prevention

Remove deleted messages from local state when delete events arrive.
Revalidate the _id against the message cache right before calling.
Treat not-found as terminal - never auto-retry the same id.

When it happens

Trigger: Translating a message that was deleted, pruned, or removed by moderation after it was rendered; passing a fabricated or truncated _id; racing a message purge job.

Common situations: Stale message lists in long-open channels; messages deleted by moderators while a user hovered the translate action; imports/migrations where message _ids changed.

Understand the failure class

Background: Record Not Found Errors: "not found", RecordNotFound, and "was not found" — what they mean and how to fix them — this error's family across 28 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of RocketChat/Rocket.Chat@b2c16d5842 (2026-08-18). Data as JSON: /api/errors/6299fb443636e82a. Report an issue: GitHub.