What causes "error-returning-inquiry" in RocketChat/Rocket.Chat?

Read the server logs: the livechatLogger.error entry right before this error carries the original exception — fix that root cause first.

RocketChat/Rocket.Chat · error · Meteor.Error

error-returning-inquiry

error-returning-inquiry

Error message

error-returning-inquiry

What it means

returnRoomAsInquiry wraps saveTransferHistory and RoutingManager.unassignAgent in one try/catch; any failure in either call is logged via livechatLogger.error({ err }) and re-raised as Meteor.Error('error-returning-inquiry'). It is a wrapper error: the real cause appears only in the server log entry immediately before it.

Source

Thrown at apps/meteor/server/lib/omnichannel/rooms.ts:262

	if (!inquiry) {
		return false;
	}

	// update inquiry's last message with room's last message to correctly display in the queue
	// because we stop updating the inquiry when it's been taken
	if (room.lastMessage) {
		await LivechatInquiry.setLastMessageById(inquiry._id, room.lastMessage);
	}

	const transferredBy = normalizeTransferredByData(user, room);
	livechatLogger.debug({ msg: 'Transferring room by user', roomId: room._id, transferredBy: transferredBy._id });
	const transferData = { scope: 'queue' as const, departmentId, transferredBy, ...overrideTransferData };
	try {
		await saveTransferHistory(room, transferData);
		await RoutingManager.unassignAgent(inquiry, departmentId);
	} catch (err) {
		livechatLogger.error({ err });
		throw new Meteor.Error('error-returning-inquiry');
	}

	callbacks.runAsync('livechat:afterReturnRoomAsInquiry', { room });

	return true;
}

export async function removeOmnichannelRoom(rid: string) {
	livechatLogger.debug({ msg: 'Deleting room', roomId: rid });
	check(rid, String);
	const room = await LivechatRooms.findOneById(rid);
	if (!room) {
		throw new Meteor.Error('error-invalid-room', 'Invalid room');
	}

	if (!isOmnichannelRoom(room)) {
		throw new Meteor.Error('error-this-is-not-a-livechat-room');
	}

View on GitHub (pinned to b2c16d5842)

Solutions

Read the server logs: the livechatLogger.error entry right before this error carries the original exception — fix that root cause first.
Reproduce with the workspace's routing method (Administration > Omnichannel > Routing) to isolate custom routing code.
Retry after the underlying fix; both calls run inside the same try block, so a partial state is possible and the room should be re-checked.

Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Try / catch

try {
	await returnRoomAsInquiry(room, departmentId);
} catch (err) {
	if (err instanceof Meteor.Error && err.error === 'error-returning-inquiry') {
		// inspect server logs: livechatLogger.error({ err }) logged the underlying cause
		// room state may be partially updated - re-fetch before any retry
		return;
	}
	throw err;
}

Prevention

Always pair this error with a server-log review — the root cause is the logged inner err, not this code.
Test custom routing methods against return-to-queue flows before deploying them.
After upgrades, regression-test transfer history and unassignment paths.

When it happens

Trigger: saveTransferHistory throws (transfer-history write failure) or the configured RoutingManager's unassignAgent throws (custom routing method, auto-selection engine error) while returning a room to the queue.

Common situations: Custom routing-method implementation raising; database write errors; regressions in transfer-history handling after a version upgrade.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of RocketChat/Rocket.Chat@b2c16d5842 (2026-08-18). Data as JSON: /api/errors/c1cfe6182fd56fa3. Report an issue: GitHub.