instructure/canvas-lms · error · ActiveRecord::RecordNotFound

Cannot find # for ID: #

Error message

Cannot find #{params[:context_type] || "Context"} for ID: #{params[:context_id]}

What it means

process_user_observer in lib/sis/user_observer_importer.rb raises this ImportError when the observer_id argument passed in is blank (nil, empty, or whitespace). An observer-less user_observer row cannot be resolved to a pseudonym via `@root_account.pseudonyms.active.find_by(sis_user_id: observer_id)`, so the import aborts that row. It is a required-argument guard executed before any database lookup.

Solutions

1. Fix the source data so every user_observer row has a non-blank observer_id (the observer's SIS ID).
2. Skip or fix blank rows in the pre-import pipeline instead of feeding them to the importer.
3. If observer_id is legitimately unknown, remove the row rather than passing an empty string.

Example fix

// before (CSV row)
user_id,observer_id
STU001,

// after
user_id,observer_id
STU001,OBS009

raise 'observer_id required' if observer_id.nil? || observer_id.to_s.strip.empty?

def blank?(v) = v.nil? || v.to_s.strip.empty?

begin
  importer.process_user_observer(obs_id, stu_id, status)
rescue SIS::Import::ImportError => e
  logger.warn("skipped row: #{e.message}")
end

When it happens

Trigger: Calling SIS::UserObserverImporter#process_user_observer with observer_id nil/empty — e.g. a CSV users_observers row missing the observer_id column, or programmatic callers passing an empty string for observer_id while student_id is set.

Common situations: Malformed SIS CSV exports where the observer_id header exists but cells are empty; an integration script that skips optional-looking columns; template files where the observer column was accidentally left blank for some rows.

Understand the failure class

Background: "missing required argument" and "the following required arguments were not provided": what required-argument errors mean and how to fix them — this error's family across 20 libraries.

Related errors

• Context is required, but none found
• Context must be of type '#
• No account found for context
• A user did not pass validation
• An email did not pass validation

AI-assisted analysis of instructure/canvas-lms@1c9f0bb801 (2026-09-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/1724ce59cdac6801. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at app/controllers/application_controller.rb:1455

        flash[:warning] = flash_message
        redirect_back_or_to root_url
      end
    end
    set_no_cache_headers
  end

  # To be used as a before_action, requires controller or controller actions
  # to have their urls scoped to a context in order to be valid.
  # So /courses/5/assignments or groups/1/assignments would be valid, but
  # not /assignments
  def require_context(user_scope: nil)
    get_context(user_scope:)
    unless @context
      if @context_is_current_user
        store_location
        redirect_to login_url
      elsif params[:context_id]
        raise ActiveRecord::RecordNotFound, "Cannot find #{params[:context_type] || "Context"} for ID: #{params[:context_id]}"
      else
        raise ActiveRecord::RecordNotFound, "Context is required, but none found"
      end
    end
    !@context.nil?
  end

  def require_context_and_read_access
    require_context && authorized_action(@context, @current_user, :read)
  end

  helper_method :clean_return_to

  def require_account_context
    require_context_type(Account)
  end

  def require_course_context

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