What causes "Failed to update profile (${response.status})." in different-ai/openwork?

Check the interpolated status code and the request payload in the network tab

different-ai/openwork · error · Error

Failed to update profile (${response.status}).

Error message

Failed to update profile (${response.status}).

What it means

den-flow-provider.tsx throws this when the profile-update request (POST with JSON body, 12s timeout) returns a non-ok status, embedding the status code as the fallback message. It indicates the server rejected or failed the profile change and returned no parseable error detail.

Source

Thrown at ee/apps/den-web/app/(den)/_providers/den-flow-provider.tsx:1420

      window.localStorage.removeItem(LAST_WORKER_STORAGE_KEY);
      window.sessionStorage.removeItem(PENDING_SOCIAL_SIGNUP_STORAGE_KEY);
      window.sessionStorage.removeItem(PENDING_ORG_INVITATION_STORAGE_KEY);
      window.sessionStorage.removeItem(PENDING_WORKSPACE_CLAIM_STORAGE_KEY);
    }
  }

  async function updateUserProfile(input: { firstName: string; lastName: string }) {
    const { response, payload } = await requestJson(
      "/v1/me/profile",
      {
        method: "PATCH",
        body: JSON.stringify(input),
      },
      12000,
    );

    if (!response.ok) {
      throw new Error(getErrorMessage(payload, `Failed to update profile (${response.status}).`));
    }

    const nextUser = getUser(payload);
    if (!nextUser) {
      throw new Error("Profile update response did not include a user.");
    }

    setUser(nextUser);
    identifyPosthogUser(nextUser);
    return nextUser;
  }

  async function launchWorker(options: { source?: "manual" | "signup_auto"; workerNameOverride?: string } = {}) {
    if (!user) {
      setAuthError("Sign in before launching a worker.");
      return "error" as const;
    }

View on GitHub (pinned to 2b7df46e8a)

Solutions

Check the interpolated status code and the request payload in the network tab
Re-authenticate if the status is 401, then re-apply the profile change
Validate the submitted fields client-side (length, format) to prevent 422s
Retry after confirming the Den server is healthy for 5xx responses

Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

const input = { name: nameInput.trim(), avatarUrl: avatarUrlInput.trim() };
if (input.name.length === 0 || input.name.length > 64 || (input.avatarUrl && !URL.canParse(input.avatarUrl))) {
  setError("Check your profile fields before saving.");
  return;
}

Try / catch

try {
  await updateProfile(input);
} catch (err) {
  const m = err.message.match(/\((\d{3})\)/);
  if (m?.[1] === "401") { await reauth(); retryUpdateProfile(input); }
  else showError("Could not save your profile. Check your fields and try again.");
}

Prevention

Validate profile fields client-side (name length, avatar URL format) to avoid 422s
Detect 401 early and refresh the session instead of failing the save
Keep the server's JSON error contract so getErrorMessage surfaces real causes
Disable the save button while a request is in flight to prevent duplicate/conflicting updates

When it happens

Trigger: `requestJson` profile update responds with response.ok === false — e.g. 401 expired session, 403 forbidden field change, 422 invalid input (bad name/avatar payload), or 500 server error.

Common situations: Session expired while the user was editing their profile (401); user submits an invalid avatar URL or over-long name (422); server-side update conflict (409); Den server outage (5xx).

Understand the failure class

Background: "API request failed": what wrapped HTTP errors from external APIs mean and how to find the real cause — this error's family across 29 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of different-ai/openwork@2b7df46e8a (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/49520142d51bc127. Report an issue: GitHub.