RocketChat/Rocket.Chat · error · Error

The required "roomId" or "roomName" param provided does not

Error message

The required "roomId" or "roomName" param provided does not match any group

What it means

Thrown by unbanUserFromRoom when the room was found but the acting user (fromId) fails canAccessRoomAsync(room, fromUser). Despite the wording about 'roomId or roomName', this is not a lookup failure: the user invoking the unban cannot access the room (not a member of the private channel, no subscription, or lacking the required permission). The message is borrowed from REST param validation and is misleading.

Source

Thrown at apps/meteor/server/lib/unbanUserFromRoom.ts:25

import { RoomMemberActions } from '../../definition/IRoomTypeConfig';

export const unbanUserFromRoom = async (fromId: string, data: { rid: string; username: string }): Promise<boolean> => {
	if (!(await hasPermissionAsync(fromId, 'ban-user', data.rid))) {
		throw new Error('Not allowed');
	}

	const room = await Rooms.findOneById(data.rid);
	if (!room || !(await roomCoordinator.getRoomDirectives(room.t).allowMemberAction(room, RoomMemberActions.BAN, fromId))) {
		throw new Error('Not allowed');
	}

	const fromUser = await Users.findOneById(fromId);
	if (!fromUser) {
		throw new Error('Invalid user');
	}

	if (!(await canAccessRoomAsync(room, fromUser))) {
		throw new Error('The required "roomId" or "roomName" param provided does not match any group');
	}

	const bannedUser = await Users.findOneByUsernameIgnoringCase(data.username);
	if (!bannedUser) {
		throw new Error('User not found');
	}

	await executeUnbanUserFromRoom(data.rid, bannedUser, fromUser);

	return true;
};

View on GitHub (pinned to b2c16d5842)

Solutions

Verify the acting user has a subscription in the room (e.g. Subscriptions.findOneByRoomIdAndUserId or GET /api/v1/rooms.info as that user) and re-join if not
Pre-check access with canAccessRoomAsync(room, fromUser) before calling unbanUserFromRoom so the denial is surfaced as a permission problem, not a generic error
If automating moderation, run with an account that holds the necessary room membership/role (owner, moderator, or admin with access)
Do not rely on the message text: treat this error as 403-style access denial, not 'room does not exist'

Example fix

// before
await unbanUserFromRoom(fromId, { rid, username }); // throws misleading 'does not match any group'

// after
const room = await Rooms.findOneById(rid);
const actor = await Users.findOneById(fromId);
if (!room || !actor || !(await canAccessRoomAsync(room, actor))) {
  throw new Error('Actor cannot access the target room');
}
await unbanUserFromRoom(fromId, { rid, username });

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

const room = await Rooms.findOneById(rid);
const actor = await Users.findOneById(fromId);
if (!room || !actor || !(await canAccessRoomAsync(room, actor))) {
  throw new Error('Actor lacks access to the target room');
}
await unbanUserFromRoom(fromId, { rid, username });

Try / catch

try {
  await unbanUserFromRoom(fromId, { rid, username });
} catch (e) {
  if (e instanceof Error && e.message.includes('does not match any group')) {
    // actually an access denial, not a missing room
    throw new Meteor.Error('error-not-allowed', 'Actor cannot access the room');
  }
  throw e;
}

Prevention

Maintain room membership for moderation bots that need to unban
Pre-check canAccessRoomAsync before any moderation call
Never branch on this message text to conclude the room is gone

When it happens

Trigger: Running the /unban slash command (apps/meteor/server/slashcommands/ban/unban.ts) or the rooms unban REST path (apps/meteor/server/api/v1/rooms.ts:1687) where the acting user has no access to the room: e.g. a moderator who was removed from a private channel, or server-side automation using a token whose user never joined the room.

Common situations: Admin bots calling unban with a bot account that has no subscription in the target room; users unbanning someone in a private channel they left; DMs or team rooms where the actor's subscription was deleted.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of RocketChat/Rocket.Chat@b2c16d5842 (2026-08-18). Data as JSON: /api/errors/2d7b18f366d94968. Report an issue: GitHub.