What causes "An error occurred during file deletion." in danny-avila/LibreChat?

Check the RAG API service health and logs for the specific error that occurred.

An error occurred during file deletion.

Error message

An error occurred during file deletion.

What it means

Thrown by deleteVectors when the RAG API's DELETE /documents endpoint returns a non-404 error status (any status outside 2xx that is not 404). A 404 is treated as success (file already gone), but other error statuses indicate a real failure. The thrown error wraps the axios error message or falls back to a generic message if the error has no message property. This prevents file DB records from being deleted when vector deletion fails, maintaining referential integrity.

Source

Thrown at api/server/services/Files/VectorDB/crud.js:46

      headers: {
        Authorization: `Bearer ${jwtToken}`,
        'Content-Type': 'application/json',
        accept: 'application/json',
      },
      data: [file.file_id],
    });
  } catch (error) {
    logAxiosError({
      error,
      message: 'Error deleting vectors',
    });
    if (
      error.response &&
      error.response.status !== 404 &&
      (error.response.status < 200 || error.response.status >= 300)
    ) {
      logger.warn('Error deleting vectors, file will not be deleted');
      throw new Error(error.message || 'An error occurred during file deletion.');
    }
  }
};

/**
 * Uploads a file to the configured Vector database
 *
 * @param {Object} params - The params object.
 * @param {Object} params.req - The request object from Express. It should have a `user` property with an `id` representing the user
 * @param {Express.Multer.File} params.file - The file object, which is part of the request. The file object should
 *                                     have a `path` property that points to the location of the uploaded file.
 * @param {string} params.file_id - The file ID.
 * @param {string} [params.entity_id] - The entity ID for shared resources.
 * @param {Object} [params.storageMetadata] - Storage metadata for dual storage pattern.
 *
 * @returns {Promise<{ filepath: string, bytes: number }>}
 *          A promise that resolves to an object containing:
 *            - filepath: The path where the file is saved.

View on GitHub (pinned to 5ff282f900)

Solutions

Check the RAG API service health and logs for the specific error that occurred.
Verify RAG_API_URL is correct and the service is reachable from the app server.
Ensure the JWT signing key used by generateShortLivedToken matches what the RAG API expects.
Implement a retry with exponential backoff for transient 5xx errors, or queue the deletion for later processing.
If the RAG API is permanently unavailable, consider manually cleaning up vector records on the RAG side and then proceeding with file deletion.

Defensive patterns

Strategy: retry

Try / catch

try {
  await deleteVectors(req, file);
} catch (error) {
  if (error.message.includes('file deletion')) {
    // RAG API error — queue for retry
    logger.warn(`Vector deletion failed for ${file.file_id}, will retry`);
    await queueVectorDeletionRetry(file.file_id);
    return;
  }
  throw error;
}

Prevention

Monitor RAG API health and alert on elevated error rates.
Ensure the JWT signing key matches between the app and RAG API.
Implement a dead-letter queue for failed vector deletions to retry later.
Verify RAG_API_URL is reachable from the app server's network.

When it happens

Trigger: Calling deleteVectors(req, file) where the RAG API at RAG_API_URL/documents responds with an HTTP status that is not 2xx and not 404 (e.g., 500, 403, 502). The error.response branch fires, logging a warning and throwing.

Common situations: The RAG API service is down or returning 500-level errors. Or the JWT token generated by generateShortLivedToken is expired or invalid, causing a 401/403. Or the RAG API has a bug or resource exhaustion (e.g., database timeout) causing intermittent 500s. Or network connectivity between the app server and RAG API is degraded.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of danny-avila/LibreChat@5ff282f900 (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/012bce1b97f98ce9. Report an issue: GitHub.