basecamp/fizzy · error · ActionController::RoutingError

Not Found

Error message

Not Found

What it means

Public board pages run through Public::BaseController, which resolves the board via Board.find_by_published_key and then calls ensure_board_accessible. That guard raises ActionController::RoutingError ("Not Found") whenever the board's owning account is cancelled, so Rails renders an HTTP 404. This is a deliberate gate that hides published boards of cancelled accounts instead of leaking that they exist.

Source

Thrown at app/controllers/public/base_controller.rb:23

  before_action :ensure_board_accessible

  layout "public"

  private
    def set_board
      @board = Board.find_by_published_key(params[:board_id] || params[:id])
    end

    def set_card
      @card = @board.cards.published.find_by!(number: params[:id]) if params[:board_id] && params[:id]
    end

    def set_public_cache_expiration
      expires_in 30.seconds, public: true
    end

    def ensure_board_accessible
      raise ActionController::RoutingError, "Not Found" if @board&.account&.cancelled?
    end
end

View on GitHub (pinned to 7aabe74580)

Solutions

1. Check the account state in console/admin (account.reload.cancelled?) and reactivate the subscription if the board should stay publicly visible.
2. Confirm the link uses the current publication key (board.publication.key) — republishing a board rotates it, and old keys return 404.
3. If you own the app, add rescue_from ActionController::RoutingError in Public::BaseController to render a branded 404 page instead of the default.
4. When cancelling an account, purge/expiry-tag the public board caches so stale rendered pages disappear immediately.

Example fix

// before
link_to "Public board", published_board_url(board)

// after (don't advertise links that will 404)
link_to "Public board", published_board_url(board) if board.publication.present? && !board.account.cancelled?

# before rendering or sharing a public board link
board = Board.find_by_published_key(key)
return head :not_found if board.nil? || board.account&.cancelled?

def public_board_available?(board)
  board.present? && board.publication.present? && board.account.present? && !board.account.cancelled?
end

# only if you need a branded page instead of Rails' default 404
class Public::BaseController < ApplicationController
  rescue_from ActionController::RoutingError, with: :render_public_404

  private
    def render_public_404
      render 'public/errors/not_found', status: :not_found
    end
end

When it happens

Trigger: GET /public/boards/:publication_key, /public/boards/:publication_key/cards/:number, or the column/stream/closed/not_now sub-pages (all under the /{account_id} URL prefix on this multi-tenant app) where board.account.cancelled? is true. Every controller inheriting Public::BaseController (boards, cards, columns, streams, closeds, not_nows) hits this before_action after set_board.

Common situations: A shared public board link that worked yesterday starts returning 404 after the account's subscription lapsed or the account was closed. Stakeholders report the link as broken. Also: the 30-second public cache (expires_in 30.seconds, public: true) can serve a stale page briefly after cancellation, confusing debugging.

AI-assisted analysis of basecamp/fizzy@7aabe74580 (2026-08-21). Data as JSON: /api/errors/5d737be1d45b8dd2. Report an issue: GitHub.