RocketChat/Rocket.Chat · error · Meteor.Error

error-user-param-not-provided

error-user-param-not-provided

Error message

The required "userId" or "username" param was not provided

What it means

getUserFromParams is the shared resolver for REST endpoints that reference a user; it requires at least one non-blank userId, username or user param (values are .trim()ed, so whitespace-only counts as missing). When none is provided it throws error-user-param-not-provided; the sibling error-invalid-user covers values that are provided but match no user.

Source

Thrown at apps/meteor/server/api/lib/getUserFromParams.ts:31

	full?: T,
): Promise<
	T extends true
		? IUser
		: Pick<IUser, '_id' | 'username' | 'name' | 'status' | 'statusDefault' | 'statusText' | 'statusSource' | 'statusExpiresAt' | 'roles'>
> {
	let user;

	const projection = full
		? {}
		: { username: 1, name: 1, status: 1, statusDefault: 1, statusText: 1, statusSource: 1, statusExpiresAt: 1, roles: 1 };
	if (params.userId?.trim()) {
		user = await Users.findOneById(params.userId, { projection });
	} else if (params.username?.trim()) {
		user = await Users.findOneByUsernameIgnoringCase(params.username, { projection });
	} else if (params.user?.trim()) {
		user = await Users.findOneByUsernameIgnoringCase(params.user, { projection });
	} else {
		throw new Meteor.Error('error-user-param-not-provided', 'The required "userId" or "username" param was not provided');
	}

	if (!user) {
		throw new Meteor.Error('error-invalid-user', 'The required "userId" or "username" param provided does not match any users');
	}

	return user;
}

export async function getUserListFromParams(params: {
	userId?: string;
	username?: string;
	user?: string;
	userIds?: string[];
	usernames?: string[];
}): Promise<Pick<IUser, '_id' | 'username'>[]> {
	// if params.userId is provided, include it as well
	const soleUser = params.userId || params.username || params.user;

View on GitHub (pinned to b2c16d5842)

Solutions

1. Pass userId or username as a non-empty string in the query/body.
2. Trim inputs client-side and omit the parameter entirely when empty rather than sending blank values.
3. Double-check the accepted param names (userId, username, user) against the endpoint docs.

Example fix

// before
api.get('/v1/users.info', { params: { user: '   ' } }); // whitespace-only

// after
api.get('/v1/users.info', { params: { username: 'rocket.cat' } });

const ident = params.userId?.trim() || params.username?.trim() || params.user?.trim();
if (!ident) {
	// do not call the endpoint: require userId or username from the caller
}

function hasUserIdentifier(p: { userId?: string; username?: string; user?: string }): boolean {
	return Boolean(p.userId?.trim() || p.username?.trim() || p.user?.trim());
}

try {
	await api.get('/v1/users.info', { params });
} catch (e: any) {
	if (e?.error === 'error-user-param-not-provided') {
		// prompt for/attach userId or username, then retry
	}
	throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling user-scoped REST routes (users.info, users.getAvatar, etc.) with none of userId/username/user in the query or body — e.g. dynamically built queries that end up with empty strings, blank form fields, or misspelled param names (user_name instead of username).

Common situations: Clients building query strings from optional inputs without dropping empties, typos in param names, whitespace from copy-paste.

Understand the failure class

Background: Missing required parameter errors: what 'X is required' and 'the required X param is missing' mean, and how to fix them — this error's family across 27 libraries.

Related errors

• error-roomid-param-not-provided
• The "customFields" query parameter must be a valid JSON.
• invalid-chart-name
• error-roomId-param-invalid
• error-invalid-param

AI-assisted analysis of RocketChat/Rocket.Chat@b2c16d5842 (2026-08-18). Data as JSON: /api/errors/a395e9e0316150e8. Report an issue: GitHub.