What causes "context not found" in instructure/canvas-lms?

Verify the context record exists and the id is correct (query it first).

instructure/canvas-lms · error · GraphQL::ExecutionError

context not found

Error message

context not found

What it means

If the context_type constantizes and queries fine but no record matches the given context_id, context_fetcher raises GraphQL::ExecutionError 'context not found' rather than returning a null node, so callers get an explicit error.

Solutions

Verify the context record exists and the id is correct (query it first).
Use a global/Relay id to get correct shard handling and encode it properly.
Confirm you are hitting the right environment/shard.

Example fix

// before
{contextType: "Course", contextId: 999999} // nonexistent
// after
{contextType: "Course", contextId: 123} // id verified via GET /api/v1/courses/123

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

// pre-check via REST API
const exists = await fetch(`/api/v1/courses/${contextId}`).then(r => r.ok)
if (!exists) throw new Error('contextId does not reference an existing course')

Try / catch

try { await mutation(input) } catch (e) { if (e.message === 'context not found') { /* refresh ids / verify shard */ } else throw e }

Prevention

Resolve fresh ids at call time instead of caching them
Use Relay global ids for shard safety
Confirm environment before using hard-coded ids

When it happens

Trigger: Calling a mutation with contextType: 'Course' and a contextId that is not an existing course id (wrong shard, deleted course, or raw id encoded wrongly).

Common situations: Hard-coded ids from another environment; courses deleted between query authoring and execution; using a Canvas id without cross-shard prefix on a multi-shard install.

Understand the failure class

Background: Record Not Found Errors: "not found", RecordNotFound, and "was not found" — what they mean and how to fix them — this error's family across 28 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of instructure/canvas-lms@1c9f0bb801 (2026-09-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/7e03862753445f03. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at app/graphql/graphql_helpers/context_fetcher.rb:34

#
# You should have received a copy of the GNU Affero General Public License along
# with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
#

module GraphQLHelpers::ContextFetcher
  def context_fetcher(input, valid_context_types = [])
    if valid_context_types.exclude?(input[:context_type])
      raise GraphQL::ExecutionError, I18n.t("invalid context type")
    end

    context =
      begin
        context_type = Object.const_get(input[:context_type])
        context_type.find_by(id: input[:context_id])
      rescue
        raise GraphQL::ExecutionError, I18n.t("invalid context type")
      end
    raise GraphQL::ExecutionError, I18n.t("context not found") if context.nil?

    context
  end
end

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