TryGhost/Ghost · warning

Your Username is not a valid Twitter Username

Error message

Your Username is not a valid Twitter Username

What it means

Thrown by the platform-validator engine for the Twitter/X definition when the username itself is invalid, OR when handleToUrl is called with an empty handle. Message declared in twitter.ts ('Your Username is not a valid Twitter Username'); thrown in platform-validator.ts at: query/fragment present in a non-fullPath username (line 247), the username rule check fails (line 255), or handleToUrl receives an empty handle (line 280). The X rule is ASCII alphanumerics plus underscore, length 1–15.

Source

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

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

// X handles are ASCII-only by platform rule: 1–15 letters, numbers or underscores.
// twitter.com URLs are accepted and canonicalised to x.com.
const twitter = createPlatformValidator({
    domains: ['x.com', 'twitter.com'],
    www: false,
    pathTypes: [
        {urlPrefix: '', storagePrefix: '@', rule: {extra: '_', min: 1, max: 15}}
    ],
    errors: {
        invalidUrl: 'The URL must be in a format like https://x.com/yourUsername',
        invalidUsername: 'Your Username is not a valid Twitter Username'
    }
});

export const validateTwitterUrl = twitter.validate;
export const twitterHandleToUrl = twitter.handleToUrl;
export const twitterUrlToHandle = twitter.urlToHandle;

View on GitHub (pinned to 47d8b0e2ad)

Solutions

1. Use a handle of 1–15 ASCII letters, digits, or underscores only — no dots, hyphens, or spaces.
2. Guard handleToUrl against empty strings at the call site before invoking it.
3. Strip query strings and fragments from URLs before validation (they're not part of an X handle).
4. When rendering stored handles, wrap handleToUrl in try-catch and fall back to omitting the link.

Example fix

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

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

// Validate the handle shape before calling handleToUrl
function isValidTwitterHandleShape(h: string): boolean {
    return /^[a-zA-Z0-9_]{1,15}$/.test(h);
}

null

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

When it happens

Trigger: Username fails the compiled rule: contains characters outside [a-zA-Z0-9_] (e.g. 'user.name', 'user-name'); length outside 1–15 (empty, or >15 chars like 'this_handle_is_too_long'); contains a '?' or '#' (query/fragment) in a URL username segment; OR handleToUrl('') with an empty stored handle.

Common situations: User typed a handle with a dot or hyphen (not allowed on X); handle longer than 15 characters; rendering a stored handle that's empty due to data corruption; user included a trailing query string in the URL.

Related errors

• The URL must be in a format like https://x.com/yourUsername
• 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://www.linkedin.com/in
• Your Username is not a valid LinkedIn Username

AI-assisted analysis of TryGhost/Ghost@47d8b0e2ad (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/aadbdf0bf0c16314. Report an issue: GitHub.