hcengineering/platform · error

Author or owner not found: ${header.author} or ${header.owne

Error message

Author or owner not found: ${header.author} or ${header.owner}

What it means

When constructing a controlled document, the importer resolves both `header.author` and `header.owner` to Employee references via findEmployeeByName, which throws on unknown names. This guard compares against undefined to produce a clearer combined message, but since findEmployeeByName never returns undefined for unknown names, the resolution error surfaces before this check in practice — meaning the underlying cause is always an unresolvable author or owner name.

Source

Thrown at packages/importer/src/huly/huly.ts:788

      qualified: data.qualified !== undefined ? this.findAccountByName(data.qualified) : undefined,
      manager: data.manager !== undefined ? this.findAccountByName(data.manager) : undefined,
      qara: data.qara !== undefined ? this.findAccountByName(data.qara) : undefined,
      docs: []
    }
  }

  private async processControlledDocument (
    header: HulyControlledDocumentHeader,
    docPath: string,
    id: Ref<ControlledDocument>,
    metaId: Ref<DocumentMeta>
  ): Promise<ImportControlledDocument> {
    const codeMatch = path.basename(docPath).match(/^\[([^\]]+)\]/)

    const author = this.findEmployeeByName(header.author)
    const owner = this.findEmployeeByName(header.owner)
    if (author === undefined || owner === undefined) {
      throw new Error(`Author or owner not found: ${header.author} or ${header.owner}`)
    }

    const templatePath = path.resolve(path.dirname(docPath), header.template)
    if (!fs.existsSync(templatePath)) {
      throw new Error(`Template file not found: ${templatePath}`)
    }

    const templateId = this.metadataRegistry.getRef(templatePath) as Ref<ControlledDocument>
    const category = header.category !== undefined ? this.controlledDocumentCategories.get(header.category) : undefined
    return {
      id,
      metaId,
      class: documents.class.ControlledDocument,
      title: header.title,
      template: templateId,
      code: codeMatch?.[1],
      major: 0,
      minor: 1,

View on GitHub (pinned to 63e28dc964)

Solutions

1. Ensure both author and owner exist as Employees in the target workspace with exactly matching names
2. Correct the author/owner front-matter fields in the document markdown to existing employee names
3. Reassign to a valid employee (e.g. the document maintainer) and re-run the import
4. Re-export after the target workspace employee records are aligned

Example fix

// before (doc front-matter)
author: J. Doe
owner: ghost-user
// after
author: Jane Doe
owner: Jane Doe

for (const doc of controlledDocs) {
  for (const field of ['author', 'owner'] as const) {
    const name = doc.frontMatter[field]
    if (typeof name === 'string' && !employeeNames.has(name)) {
      throw new Error(`${doc.path}: ${field} "${name}" is not an employee in the target workspace`)
    }
  }
}

function hasResolvableAuthorOwner(h: { author: string; owner: string }, employees: Set<string>): boolean {
  return employees.has(h.author) && employees.has(h.owner)
}

try {
  await importer.workspaceData(folder)
} catch (e) {
  if (e instanceof Error && (e.message.startsWith('Author or owner not found') || e.message.startsWith('Employee not found'))) {
    console.error('Set author/owner to existing employees in the document front-matter:', e.message)
  } else throw e
}

When it happens

Trigger: Importing a controlled document whose front-matter `author:` or `owner:` names are not present in employeesByName (HulyFormatImporter → processControlledDocument path); typical when the named employees do not exist in the target workspace or their names differ.

Common situations: Authors who left the organization; documents authored by contractors never onboarded to the target workspace; name casing/spelling differences between the export and the target workspace's employee records.

Related errors

• Employee not found: ${name}
• Unsupported card type: ${cardType} in ${cardPath}
• Invalid master tag data
• Invalid tag data
• Unsupported type: ${property.type} ${currentPath}

AI-assisted analysis of hcengineering/platform@63e28dc964 (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/7f3656febbcebdfb. Report an issue: GitHub.