RocketChat/Rocket.Chat · error · Error

Message not found

Error message

Message not found

What it means

getMessageByID() in the chat data layer throws 'Message not found' when findMessageByID returns null: the message is neither in the local Messages store (records with _hidden !== true are skipped) nor retrievable via GET /v1/chat.getMessage from the server. It is the strict variant of the finder and assumes the caller has already established the message exists.

Solutions

  1. Use findMessageByID instead and handle the null case gracefully.
  2. Verify the message id and that the current user has read access to the target room.
  3. If the message was hidden locally but still exists, reload it from the server / clear the _hidden flag before using the strict getter.

Example fix

// before
const msg = await chat.getMessageByID(mid);

// after
const msg = await chat.findMessageByID(mid);
if (!msg) {
  dispatchToastMessage({ type: 'error', message: t('Message_not_found') });
  return;
}
Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

const msg = await chat.findMessageByID(mid);
if (!msg) {
  // deleted, hidden, or inaccessible — do not call the strict getter
  return;
}
const strict = msg;

Try / catch

try {
  const msg = await chat.getMessageByID(mid);
} catch (e) {
  if (e instanceof Error && e.message === 'Message not found') {
    dispatchToastMessage({ type: 'error', message: t('Message_not_found') });
    return;
  }
  throw e;
}

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: Calling getMessageByID with an id that was deleted server-side, a locally hidden record (_hidden === true, e.g. hidden by moderation or queued deletion), a message in a room the user cannot read, or an invalid/mistyped id; also a server error from the chat.getMessage fallback resolves to null.

Common situations: Jumping to a permalink whose target message was deleted; racing a delete with an edit/quote action; local cache cleared or evicted while the server copy is gone; message id taken from an unrelated workspace.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of RocketChat/Rocket.Chat@2f18297792 (2026-08-18). Data as JSON: /api/errors/642194e719ba549f. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at apps/meteor/client/lib/chats/data.ts:45

			_id: originalMessage?._id ?? Random.id(),
			rid: effectiveRID,
			...(effectiveTMID && {
				tmid: effectiveTMID,
				...(sendToChannel && { tshow: sendToChannel }),
			}),
			msg,
		} as IMessage;
	};

	const findMessageByID = async (mid: IMessage['_id']): Promise<IMessage | null> =>
		Messages.state.find((record) => record._id === mid && record._hidden !== true) ??
		sdk.rest.get('/v1/chat.getMessage', { msgId: mid }).then((response) => mapMessageFromApi(response.message));

	const getMessageByID = async (mid: IMessage['_id']): Promise<IMessage> => {
		const message = await findMessageByID(mid);

		if (!message) {
			throw new Error('Message not found');
		}

		return message;
	};

	const findLastMessage = async (): Promise<IMessage | undefined> =>
		Messages.state.findFirst(
			(record) => record.rid === rid && (tmid ? record.tmid === tmid : !record.tmid) && record._hidden !== true,
			(a, b) => b.ts.getTime() - a.ts.getTime(),
		);

	const getLastMessage = async (): Promise<IMessage> => {
		const message = await findLastMessage();

		if (!message) {
			throw new Error('Message not found');
		}

View on GitHub (pinned to 2f18297792)