What causes "Invalid customFieldsToShowInUserInfo value" in RocketChat/Rocket.Chat?

Set the value to a JSON array, e.g. [{"Department": "department"}]

Invalid customFieldsToShowInUserInfo value

Error message

Invalid customFieldsToShowInUserInfo value

What it means

The Accounts_CustomFieldsToShowInUserInfo setting must be a JSON array of single-key objects mapping a display label to a custom-field name. useUserCustomFields JSON.parses the setting; if parsing succeeds but the result is not an array (a plain object, number, boolean), it warns and returns undefined, so no custom fields render in the user info view. Malformed JSON fails the earlier JSON.parse catch and returns silently without this warn.

Source

Thrown at apps/meteor/client/hooks/useUserCustomFields.ts:31

	  }
	| undefined;

export const useUserCustomFields = (customFields: CustomField): CustomFieldDisplay[] | undefined => {
	const customFieldsToShowSetting = useSetting('Accounts_CustomFieldsToShowInUserInfo');

	let customFieldsToShowObj: CustomField[] | undefined;
	try {
		customFieldsToShowObj = JSON.parse(customFieldsToShowSetting as string);
	} catch (error) {
		customFieldsToShowObj = undefined;
	}

	if (!customFieldsToShowObj) {
		return undefined;
	}

	if (!Array.isArray(customFieldsToShowObj)) {
		console.warn('Invalid customFieldsToShowInUserInfo value');
		return undefined;
	}

	const customFieldsToShow = customFieldsToShowObj.map((value) => {
		if (!value) {
			return undefined;
		}

		const [customFieldLabel] = Object.keys(value);
		const [customFieldValue] = Object.values(value);
		const fieldValue = customFields?.[customFieldValue];
		return { label: customFieldLabel, value: fieldValue !== '' ? fieldValue : undefined };
	});

	return customFieldsToShow;
};

View on GitHub (pinned to b2c16d5842)

Solutions

Set the value to a JSON array, e.g. [{"Department": "department"}]
Use one entry per field: the key is the visible label, the value is the custom field name
Leave the setting empty to disable the feature cleanly instead of storing a non-array
Verify the referenced field names exist under Administration -> Accounts -> Custom Fields

Example fix

# before (Accounts_CustomFieldsToShowInUserInfo)
{"Department": "department"}

# after
[{"Department": "department"}, {"Phone": "phone"}]

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

const parseCustomFieldsToShow = (raw: unknown): Array<Record<string, string>> | null => {
  if (typeof raw !== 'string' || raw.trim() === '') return null;
  try {
    const parsed: unknown = JSON.parse(raw);
    return Array.isArray(parsed) ? (parsed as Array<Record<string, string>>) : null;
  } catch {
    return null;
  }
};

Type guard

const isCustomFieldsToShow = (v: unknown): v is Array<Record<string, string>> =>
  Array.isArray(v) &&
  v.every((entry) => !!entry && typeof entry === 'object' && !Array.isArray(entry) && Object.keys(entry).length === 1);

Prevention

Validate the setting on save in the admin UI, not on every client read
Document the exact array shape next to the setting - the label-key/field-value order is easy to invert
Prefer an empty value over ad-hoc placeholders to disable the feature

When it happens

Trigger: An admin saves a value like {"Department":"department"} (object root, not array), or true / 42 - any valid JSON whose root is not an array triggers the warn.

Common situations: Copy-pasting a single-field example without wrapping it in [ ]; migrating from an older setting format; placeholder values that happen to be valid non-array JSON.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of RocketChat/Rocket.Chat@b2c16d5842 (2026-08-18). Data as JSON: /api/errors/d0e2a9273c7db6fc. Report an issue: GitHub.