RocketChat/Rocket.Chat · error · FederationMatrixInvalidConfigurationError

Federation configuration is invalid,unable to change room ow

Error message

Federation configuration is invalid,unable to change room owners

What it means

Thrown by addRoomOwner() in apps/meteor/server/meteor-methods/rooms/addRoomOwner.ts:44 as FederationMatrixInvalidConfigurationError('unable to change room owners') — a plain Error subclass (apps/meteor/server/services/federation/utils.ts:13) whose message becomes 'Federation configuration is invalid,unable to change room owners'. It fires when the room is federated (isRoomFederated(room) === true, bypassing the permission check) but the Federation_Service_Enabled setting is false, so the server cannot perform the Matrix-side ownership change.

Source

Thrown at apps/meteor/server/meteor-methods/rooms/addRoomOwner.ts:44

	check(userId, String);

	const room = await Rooms.findOneById(rid, { projection: { t: 1, federated: 1, federation: 1 } });
	if (!room) {
		throw new Meteor.Error('error-invalid-room', 'Invalid room', {
			method: 'addRoomOwner',
		});
	}

	const isFederated = isRoomFederated(room);

	if (!(await hasPermissionAsync(fromUserId, 'set-owner', rid)) && !isFederated) {
		throw new Meteor.Error('error-not-allowed', 'Not allowed', {
			method: 'addRoomOwner',
		});
	}

	if (isFederated && !isFederationEnabled()) {
		throw new FederationMatrixInvalidConfigurationError('unable to change room owners');
	}

	const user = await Users.findOneById(userId);

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

	const subscription = await Subscriptions.findOneByRoomIdAndUserId(rid, user._id);

	if (!subscription) {
		throw new Meteor.Error('error-user-not-in-room', 'User is not in this room', {
			method: 'addRoomOwner',
		});
	}

View on GitHub (pinned to b2c16d5842)

Solutions

Re-enable federation: set Federation_Service_Enabled to true in Administration > Federation (or settings.get('Federation_Service_Enabled')).
If the room should no longer be federated, use the supported un-federation/migration flow to clear its federation state before changing owners.
Guard the call: if (isRoomFederated(room) && !settings.get('Federation_Service_Enabled')) skip or surface a configuration error to the operator.
If federation is intentionally off workspace-wide, audit for stray federated rooms (rooms with federation/federated markers) and clean them up.

Example fix

// before
await addRoomOwner(uid, rid, targetUserId); // throws on federated room with federation off

// after
const federationEnabled = settings.get<boolean>('Federation_Service_Enabled');
if (!federationEnabled) throw new Error('enable Federation_Service_Enabled before changing owners of federated rooms');
await addRoomOwner(uid, rid, targetUserId);

Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

import { isFederationEnabled } from '<server>/services/federation/utils';
if (!isFederationEnabled()) {
  // changing owners of federated rooms will throw
  throw new Error('enable federation before managing federated room owners');
}

Try / catch

try {
  await addRoomOwner(uid, rid, userId);
} catch (e) {
  if (e instanceof Error && e.name === 'FederationMatrixInvalidConfiguration') {
    // configuration problem, not a code problem: check Federation_Service_Enabled
  }
}

Prevention

Monitor the Federation_Service_Enabled setting and alert when it flips while federated rooms exist.
Guard owner-change flows on federated rooms with an explicit settings check.
Treat e.name === 'FederationMatrixInvalidConfiguration' as an ops/config error class in your handler.

When it happens

Trigger: Calling addRoomOwner on a room whose federation fields mark it as federated while the workspace has federation disabled in Administration > Federation (Federation_Service_Enabled = false); federation was enabled when the room was created and later turned off; importing/migrating federated rooms into a workspace where the Federation service was never configured.

Common situations: Disabling federation after federated rooms exist and then trying to manage their owners; test environments cloning federated room documents without the federation service; partial federation setup where the app flag is on but the server setting is off.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of RocketChat/Rocket.Chat@b2c16d5842 (2026-08-18). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e3423eaa0bf54e13. Report an issue: GitHub.