anuraghazra/github-readme-stats · error · Error

Invalid username provided.

Error message

Invalid username provided.

What it means

Generic Error thrown by totalCommitsFetcher when the username fails the github-username-regex test, before any network call. This fetcher is only invoked when include_all_commits=true (it backs the REST commits-search path), so the regex gate guards the secondary /search/commits REST endpoint specifically. The same username already passed fetchStats, so reaching here means the value is non-empty but violates GitHub's username rules (alphanumeric + hyphens, no leading/trailing/consecutive hyphens, max 39 chars).

Source

Thrown at src/fetchers/stats.js:194

      Accept: "application/vnd.github.cloak-preview",
      Authorization: `token ${token}`,
    },
  });
};

/**
 * Fetch all the commits for all the repositories of a given username.
 *
 * @param {string} username GitHub username.
 * @returns {Promise<number>} Total commits.
 *
 * @description Done like this because the GitHub API does not provide a way to fetch all the commits. See
 * #92#issuecomment-661026467 and #211 for more information.
 */
const totalCommitsFetcher = async (username) => {
  if (!githubUsernameRegex.test(username)) {
    logger.log("Invalid username provided.");
    throw new Error("Invalid username provided.");
  }

  let res;
  try {
    res = await retryer(fetchTotalCommits, { login: username });
  } catch (err) {
    logger.log(err);
    throw new Error(err);
  }

  const totalCount = res.data.total_count;
  if (!totalCount || isNaN(totalCount)) {
    throw new CustomError(
      "Could not fetch total commits.",
      CustomError.GITHUB_REST_API_ERROR,
    );
  }
  return totalCount;

View on GitHub (pinned to 54a7985aee)

Solutions

1. Use a valid GitHub login (alphanumeric and hyphens only, 1-39 chars, no leading/trailing/double hyphens).
2. If you don't actually need all-time commits, drop include_all_commits=true to use the GraphQL contributions count instead (which does not run this regex check).
3. Strip whitespace and re-test against github-username-regex before issuing the request.

Example fix

// before
// GET /api/?username=john.doe&include_all_commits=true  (dots invalid)

// after
// GET /api/?username=johndoe&include_all_commits=true
// or drop the flag:
// GET /api/?username=john.doe  (uses GraphQL contributions instead)

// Mirror the same regex fetchStats+totalCommitsFetcher use.
import githubUsernameRegex from "github-username-regex";
function assertValidUsernameForAllCommits(username) {
  if (!githubUsernameRegex.test(username)) {
    throw new Error(
      `"${username}" is not a valid GitHub login for include_all_commits (alphanumeric/hyphens, <=39 chars).`,
    );
  }
}

import githubUsernameRegex from "github-username-regex";
const isValidGithubUsername = (u) => typeof u === "string" && githubUsernameRegex.test(u);

When it happens

Trigger: A request with include_all_commits=true whose username contains illegal characters, starts/ends with a hyphen, has consecutive hyphens, or exceeds 39 characters. The logger logs 'Invalid username provided.' and the Error propagates.

Common situations: Username containing dots (not allowed by GitHub but accepted by some other systems), an email address mistakenly passed as username, a handle with whitespace/symbols, or a >39 char value.

Related errors

• ${err}
• GITHUB_REST_API_ERROR
• Missing params "username" make sure you pass the parameters
• Could not render stats card.
• Missing params "id" make sure you pass the parameters in URL

AI-assisted analysis of anuraghazra/github-readme-stats@54a7985aee (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/95d5b1a56ff875eb. Report an issue: GitHub.