RocketChat/Rocket.Chat · error · Error

The "start" query parameter must be before the "end" query p

Error message

The "start" query parameter must be before the "end" query parameter.

What it means

checkDates requires start not to be after end (equal dates pass; only strictly-after fails). This is the last date check, running after validity and the 1-year span check, on every livechat/analytics/dashboards/* report route.

Source

Thrown at apps/meteor/ee/server/api/v1/omnichannel/reports.ts:29

} from './lib/dashboards';
import { API } from '../../../../../server/api';
import { restrictQuery } from '../../../lib/omnichannel/restrictQuery';

const checkDates = (start: Moment, end: Moment) => {
	if (!start.isValid()) {
		throw new Error('The "start" query parameter must be a valid date.');
	}
	if (!end.isValid()) {
		throw new Error('The "end" query parameter must be a valid date.');
	}
	// Check dates are no more than 1 year apart using moment
	// 1.01 === "we allow to pass year by some hours/days"
	if (moment(end).startOf('day').diff(moment(start).startOf('day'), 'year', true) > 1.01) {
		throw new Error('The "start" and "end" query parameters must be less than 1 year apart.');
	}

	if (start.isAfter(end)) {
		throw new Error('The "start" query parameter must be before the "end" query parameter.');
	}
};

API.v1.addRoute(
	'livechat/analytics/dashboards/conversations-by-source',
	{
		authRequired: true,
		permissionsRequired: ['view-livechat-reports'],
		validateParams: isGETDashboardConversationsByType,
		license: ['livechat-enterprise'],
	},
	{
		async get() {
			const { start, end } = this.queryParams;

			const startDate = moment(start);
			const endDate = moment(end);

View on GitHub (pinned to b2c16d5842)

Solutions

1. Order the pair before sending: send min(start,end) as start and max(start,end) as end.
2. Check the UI binding for swapped from/to fields.
3. Log the exact query string when dashboard requests fail to catch silent swaps.

Example fix

// before
api.get(url, { params: { start, end } }); // user picked end before start

// after
const [s, e] = start.isAfter(end) ? [end, start] : [start, end];
api.get(url, { params: { start: s.toISOString(), end: e.toISOString() } });

const [s, e] = start.isAfter(end) ? [end, start] : [start, end];
await api.get(url, { params: { start: s.toISOString(), end: e.toISOString() } });

When it happens

Trigger: GET .../conversations-by-source?start=2024-06-30&end=2024-01-01, or a client sending {from, to} in the wrong order after a refactor.

Common situations: Swapped query params; timezone conversion pushing a client's 'today' start past the server-parsed end; date pickers defaulting start to tomorrow; end truncated to midnight while start keeps a late-evening time.

Related errors

• The "start" and "end" query parameters must be less than 1 y
• The "start" query parameter must be a valid date.
• The "end" query parameter must be a valid date.
• error-duplicate-priority-name
• error-room-does-not-exist

AI-assisted analysis of RocketChat/Rocket.Chat@b2c16d5842 (2026-08-18). Data as JSON: /api/errors/9158d10d1dbb8bd5. Report an issue: GitHub.