TryGhost/Ghost · warning

Your Username is not a valid TikTok Username

Error message

Your Username is not a valid TikTok Username

What it means

Thrown by the platform-validator engine for the TikTok definition when the username is invalid, or handleToUrl is called empty. Message declared in tiktok.ts ('Your Username is not a valid TikTok Username'); thrown in platform-validator.ts at: query/fragment in username (line 247), username rule check failure (line 255 — TikTok rule: 2–24 chars, ASCII letters/digits plus ._ , no boundary or consecutive dots), or empty handle in handleToUrl (line 280).

Source

Thrown at apps/admin/src/settings/app/utils/social-urls/tiktok.ts:13

import {createPlatformValidator} from './platform-validator';

// TikTok usernames are ASCII-only by platform rule: letters, numbers,
// underscores and periods, 2–24 characters, no boundary or consecutive periods.
const tiktok = createPlatformValidator({
    domains: ['tiktok.com'],
    www: true,
    pathTypes: [
        {urlPrefix: '@', storagePrefix: '@', rule: {extra: '._', min: 2, max: 24, notAtBoundary: '.', notConsecutive: '.'}}
    ],
    errors: {
        invalidUrl: 'The URL must be in a format like https://www.tiktok.com/@yourUsername',
        invalidUsername: 'Your Username is not a valid TikTok Username'
    }
});

export const validateTikTokUrl = tiktok.validate;
export const tiktokHandleToUrl = tiktok.handleToUrl;
export const tiktokUrlToHandle = tiktok.urlToHandle;

View on GitHub (pinned to 47d8b0e2ad)

Solutions

1. Use a TikTok handle of 2–24 characters in [a-zA-Z0-9._] with no leading/trailing dot and no consecutive dots.
2. Guard handleToUrl against empty strings before calling.
3. Strip query strings and fragments from URLs before validation.
4. When rendering stored handles, wrap handleToUrl in try-catch and omit the link on failure.

Example fix

// before — throws on empty/corrupt stored handle or out-of-rule handle
const url = tiktokHandleToUrl(profile.tiktok);

// after — guard empty, try-catch the rest
const handle = profile.tiktok?.trim();
if (!handle) {
    return null;
}
try {
    return tiktokHandleToUrl(handle);
} catch {
    return null;
}

// Validate the handle shape before calling handleToUrl
function isValidTikTokHandleShape(h: string): boolean {
    if (!h || [...h].length < 2 || [...h].length > 24) return false;
    if (h.startsWith('.') || h.endsWith('.')) return false;
    if (h.includes('..')) return false;
    return /^[a-zA-Z0-9._]+$/.test(h);
}

null

const handle = profile.tiktok?.trim();
if (!handle) return null;
try {
    return tiktokHandleToUrl(handle);
} catch {
    return null;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Username fails the TikTok rule: length outside 2–24; contains characters outside [a-zA-Z0-9._]; starts or ends with a dot (notAtBoundary: '.'); contains consecutive dots '..' (notConsecutive: '.'); OR handleToUrl('') with an empty stored handle; OR a URL username segment contains '?' or '#' (query/fragment).

Common situations: User typed a 1-character or >24-character handle; handle with leading/trailing dot; handle with consecutive dots; rendering an empty stored handle; user appended a query string to the URL.

Related errors

• The URL must be in a format like https://www.tiktok.com/@you
• The URL must be in a format like @username@instance.tld or h
• Your Username is not a valid Mastodon Username
• The URL must be in a format like https://x.com/yourUsername
• Your Username is not a valid Twitter Username

AI-assisted analysis of TryGhost/Ghost@47d8b0e2ad (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/b30e3e89d768229b. Report an issue: GitHub.