khoj-ai/khoj · error · ValidationError

A private Agent with the name {instance.name} already exists

Error message

A private Agent with the name {instance.name} already exists.

What it means

Django pre_save signal rejecting creation of a new Agent whose name collides with an agent created by the same creator. Enforces per-creator name uniqueness for private agents.

Source

Thrown at src/khoj/database/models/__init__.py:372

        SCHEDULED_JOB = "scheduled_job"
        SCHEDULE_LEADER = "schedule_leader"
        APPLY_MIGRATIONS = "apply_migrations"

    # We need to make sure that some operations are thread-safe. To do so, add locks for potentially shared operations.
    # For example, we need to make sure that only one process is updating the embeddings at a time.
    name = models.CharField(max_length=200, choices=Operation.choices, unique=True)
    started_at = models.DateTimeField(auto_now_add=True)
    max_duration_in_seconds = models.IntegerField(default=60 * 60 * 12)  # 12 hours


@receiver(pre_save, sender=Agent)
def verify_agent(sender, instance, **kwargs):
    # check if this is a new instance
    if instance._state.adding:
        if Agent.objects.filter(name=instance.name, privacy_level=Agent.PrivacyLevel.PUBLIC).exists():
            raise ValidationError(f"A public Agent with the name {instance.name} already exists.")
        if Agent.objects.filter(name=instance.name, creator=instance.creator).exists():
            raise ValidationError(f"A private Agent with the name {instance.name} already exists.")


class NotionConfig(DbBaseModel):
    token = models.CharField(max_length=200)
    user = models.ForeignKey(KhojUser, on_delete=models.CASCADE)


class GithubConfig(DbBaseModel):
    pat_token = models.CharField(max_length=200)
    user = models.ForeignKey(KhojUser, on_delete=models.CASCADE)


class GithubRepoConfig(DbBaseModel):
    name = models.CharField(max_length=200)
    owner = models.CharField(max_length=200)
    branch = models.CharField(max_length=200)
    github_config = models.ForeignKey(GithubConfig, on_delete=models.CASCADE, related_name="githubrepoconfig")

View on GitHub (pinned to ae229ca894)

Solutions

Rename the new agent to something the user hasn't used.
Return the existing agent instead of creating a duplicate (upsert semantics).
Debounce/disable the create button after first submit to avoid double POSTs.

Example fix

# before
Agent.objects.create(name="MyBot", creator=user, privacy_level=Agent.PrivacyLevel.PRIVATE)

# after
agent, created = Agent.objects.get_or_create(
    name="MyBot", creator=user,
    defaults={"privacy_level": Agent.PrivacyLevel.PRIVATE},
)

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

from khoj.database.models import Agent
agent, created = Agent.objects.get_or_create(
    name=name, creator=user,
    defaults={"privacy_level": Agent.PrivacyLevel.PRIVATE},
)

Try / catch

from django.core.exceptions import ValidationError
try:
    agent.save()
except ValidationError as e:
    if "private Agent" in str(e):
        agent = Agent.objects.get(name=agent.name, creator=agent.creator)
    else:
        raise

Prevention

Enforce per-user name uniqueness in the form/serializer with a friendly message.
Use get_or_create or update-or-create semantics for idempotent writes.

When it happens

Trigger: A user creates a second agent with a name they already used before (any privacy level), e.g. repeated POST to the agent-creation API with the same name.

Common situations: Double-submitted forms; retry of a failed request that actually succeeded; seed scripts re-run for the same user.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of khoj-ai/khoj@ae229ca894 (2026-08-27). Data as JSON: /api/errors/1db1263bd4259699. Report an issue: GitHub.