laravel/framework · error · InvalidArgumentException

Authentication user provider [{$driver}] is not defined.

Error message

Authentication user provider [{$driver}] is not defined.

What it means

Thrown by CreatesUserProviders::createUserProvider() when the provider's 'driver' is neither 'database' nor 'eloquent' and no custom provider creator was registered with Auth::provider(). The guard references a user provider that the framework cannot build.

Source

Thrown at src/Illuminate/Auth/CreatesUserProviders.php:39

     *
     * @throws \InvalidArgumentException
     */
    public function createUserProvider($provider = null)
    {
        if (is_null($config = $this->getProviderConfiguration($provider))) {
            return;
        }

        if (isset($this->customProviderCreators[$driver = ($config['driver'] ?? null)])) {
            return call_user_func(
                $this->customProviderCreators[$driver], $this->app, $config
            );
        }

        return match ($driver) {
            'database' => $this->createDatabaseProvider($config),
            'eloquent' => $this->createEloquentProvider($config),
            default => throw new InvalidArgumentException(
                "Authentication user provider [{$driver}] is not defined."
            ),
        };
    }

    /**
     * Get the user provider configuration.
     *
     * @param  string|null  $provider
     * @return array|null
     */
    protected function getProviderConfiguration($provider)
    {
        if ($provider = $provider ?: $this->getDefaultUserProvider()) {
            return $this->app['config']['auth.providers.'.$provider];
        }
    }

View on GitHub (pinned to bd6b5437e6)

Solutions

1. Register the custom provider: Auth::provider('custom', fn ($app, array $config) => new CustomUserProvider(...)).
2. Use the built-in 'eloquent' (with a 'model') or 'database' (with a 'table') driver.
3. Confirm auth.guards.{guard}.provider matches a real key under auth.providers.
4. Run php artisan config:clear after editing config/auth.php.

Example fix

// before - config/auth.php
'providers' => [
    'users' => ['driver' => 'mongo', 'model' => App\Models\User::class],
],

// after
'providers' => [
    'users' => ['driver' => 'eloquent', 'model' => App\Models\User::class],
],
// or register in a provider: Auth::provider('mongo', fn ($app, $config) => new MongoUserProvider(...));

$provider = config('auth.guards.web.provider');
$driver = config("auth.providers.{$provider}.driver");
if (! in_array($driver, ['eloquent', 'database'], true) && ! array_key_exists($driver, $customProviders)) {
    throw new RuntimeException("User provider driver [{$driver}] is not registered.");
}

function userProviderDriverIsSupported(string $driver): bool
{
    return in_array($driver, ['eloquent', 'database'], true);
}

try {
    Auth::createUserProvider($name);
} catch (\InvalidArgumentException $e) {
    // fall back to eloquent or abort config bootstrap
}

When it happens

Trigger: Setting auth.providers.{name}.driver to an unregistered value (e.g. 'mongo') while a guard's 'provider' key points to it; calling Auth::createUserProvider('missing') directly.

Common situations: Removing/renaming a provider driver in config; using a custom user source without registering Auth::provider('custom', ...) in a service provider; stale cached config after an edit.

Related errors

• Auth guard [{$name}] is not defined.
• Auth driver [{$config['driver']}] for guard [{$name}] is not
• Password resetter [{$name}] is not defined.
• Cookie jar has not been set.
• Callback must be a callable, callback array, or a 'Class@met

AI-assisted analysis of laravel/framework@bd6b5437e6 (2026-08-06). Data as JSON: /data/errors/bea9b9c431f53876.json. Report an issue: GitHub.