RocketChat/Rocket.Chat · error · Error

Invalid user

Error message

Invalid user

What it means

Thrown by AppRoomBridge.createPrivateGroup when Users.findOneById(room.creator.id) returns null. The private-group creation server method requires a full user document (not just an id), so the bridge refuses to proceed when the creator id does not resolve to a persisted user. Note that the channel and direct-message branches do not perform this lookup, so the error is specific to private-group creation.

Source

Thrown at apps/meteor/app/apps/server/bridges/rooms.ts:100

		delete extraData.t;
		delete extraData.ro;
		delete extraData.customFields;

		return extraData;
	}

	private async createChannel(userId: string, room: ICoreRoom, members: string[]): Promise<string> {
		return (await createChannelMethod(userId, room.name || '', members, room.ro, room.customFields, this.prepareExtraData(room))).rid;
	}

	private async createDirectMessage(userId: string, members: string[]): Promise<string> {
		return (await createDirectMessage(members, userId)).rid;
	}

	private async createPrivateGroup(userId: string, room: ICoreRoom, members: string[]): Promise<string> {
		const user = await Users.findOneById(userId);
		if (!user) {
			throw new Error('Invalid user');
		}
		return (await createPrivateGroupMethod(user, room.name || '', members, room.ro, room.customFields, this.prepareExtraData(room))).rid;
	}

	protected async getById(roomId: string, appId: string): Promise<IRoom> {
		this.orch.debugLog(`The App ${appId} is getting the roomById: "${roomId}"`);

		// #TODO: #AppsEngineTypes - Remove explicit types and typecasts once the apps-engine definition/implementation mismatch is fixed.
		const promise: Promise<IRoom | undefined> = this.orch.getConverters()?.get('rooms').convertById(roomId);
		return promise as Promise<IRoom>;
	}

	protected async getByName(roomName: string, appId: string): Promise<IRoom> {
		this.orch.debugLog(`The App ${appId} is getting the roomByName: "${roomName}"`);

		// #TODO: #AppsEngineTypes - Remove explicit types and typecasts once the apps-engine definition/implementation mismatch is fixed.
		const promise: Promise<IRoom | undefined> = this.orch.getConverters()?.get('rooms').convertByName(roomName);
		return promise as Promise<IRoom>;

View on GitHub (pinned to f9d3ec372b)

Solutions

1. Verify the creator id resolves to a user (via the users accessor) before calling create with RoomType.PRIVATE_GROUP.
2. Use a known-good bot user id as the creator; ensure the App's bot user is provisioned.
3. If the creator was deleted, prompt for a valid owner or fall back to the App's own user.

Example fix

// before
room.setCreator({ id: maybeDeletedUserId });
room.setType(RoomType.PRIVATE_GROUP);
await modify.getCreator().startRoom(room).done();

// after
const creator = await users.getById(maybeDeletedUserId);
if (!creator) throw new Error('Creator user not found');
room.setCreator({ id: creator.id });
await modify.getCreator().startRoom(room).done();

const creator = await users.getById(room.creator.id);
if (!creator) {
  throw new Error(`Cannot create private group: creator ${room.creator.id} does not exist`);
}
room.setCreator({ id: creator.id });
await modify.getCreator().startRoom(room).done();

When it happens

Trigger: An App creates a private group with room.creator.id set to a user id that does not exist — a deleted user, a federated user not yet mirrored locally, an id from a stale cache, or a placeholder id assigned before the user was provisioned.

Common situations: Holding a user id from a previous workspace state; acting on a webhook whose actor was deleted; federation/matrix users whose local document lags; creating a room as a bot user that was never inserted.

Related errors

• Only channels, private groups and direct messages can be cre
• Room id not found
• Invalid Api parameter provided, it must be a valid IApi obje
• Invalid command parameter provided, must be a string.
• Invalid Slash Command parameter provided, it must be a valid

AI-assisted analysis of RocketChat/Rocket.Chat@f9d3ec372b (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/6bc672c6795671f4. Report an issue: GitHub.