m1k1o/neko · error · ErrMemberDoesNotExist

member does not exist

Error message

member does not exist

What it means

ErrMemberDoesNotExist is a sentinel error in the neko server's types package indicating that a member (user account) lookup failed because no member with the given id/username exists in the configured member provider (e.g. file or database backend). It is returned by member operations such as Login, ExtractMember, UpdateProfile, UpdatePassword, Delete, and getEntry when the referenced account cannot be found.

Source

Thrown at server/pkg/types/member.go:7

package types

import "errors"

var (
	ErrMemberAlreadyExists   = errors.New("member already exists")
	ErrMemberDoesNotExist    = errors.New("member does not exist")
	ErrMemberInvalidPassword = errors.New("invalid password")
)

type MemberProfile struct {
	Name string `json:"name"`

	// permissions
	IsAdmin               bool `json:"is_admin"                 mapstructure:"is_admin"`
	CanLogin              bool `json:"can_login"                mapstructure:"can_login"`
	CanConnect            bool `json:"can_connect"              mapstructure:"can_connect"`
	CanWatch              bool `json:"can_watch"                mapstructure:"can_watch"`
	CanHost               bool `json:"can_host"                 mapstructure:"can_host"`
	CanShareMedia         bool `json:"can_share_media"          mapstructure:"can_share_media"`
	CanAccessClipboard    bool `json:"can_access_clipboard"     mapstructure:"can_access_clipboard"`
	SendsInactiveCursor   bool `json:"sends_inactive_cursor"    mapstructure:"sends_inactive_cursor"`
	CanSeeInactiveCursors bool `json:"can_see_inactive_cursors" mapstructure:"can_see_inactive_cursors"`

	// plugin scope

View on GitHub (pinned to b0f01cedea)

Solutions

1. Verify the member id/username exists in the configured member provider before calling the API (list members or query the store directly).
2. Check that the server's member provider backend (file/database path, connection) points at the data source that actually contains the account.
3. Re-create the missing member account with the expected credentials/profile.
4. If the member was deleted, invalidate the referencing session and re-authenticate.
5. Enable provider logging to confirm which lookup (id vs username) failed.

Example fix

// before
profile, err := memberManager.Select(id) // panics later or fails with ErrMemberDoesNotExist
if err != nil {
    return err
}
// after
profile, err := memberManager.Select(id)
if errors.Is(err, types.ErrMemberDoesNotExist) {
    return fmt.Errorf("member %q not found, check provider backend", id)
} else if err != nil {
    return err
}

// Go: check membership before operating
if _, ok := members[id]; !ok {
    return fmt.Errorf("member %q does not exist", id)
}

func MemberExists(m types.MemberProvider, id string) bool {
    _, err := m.Select(id)
    return err == nil
}

if err != nil {
    if errors.Is(err, types.ErrMemberDoesNotExist) {
        // handle missing member: create it or return 404
        return
    }
    return err
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling Login with a username not present in the member store; UpdateProfile, UpdatePassword, or Delete with an unknown/expired member id; ExtractMember resolving a session whose member record was deleted; getEntry when the underlying provider (file/db) has no entry for the requested id.

Common situations: Pointing the server at a fresh/empty member database or a different data directory than expected; deleting a member while their session is still alive; typos in usernames in API calls or config seeds; migration from another auth provider leaving stale member references.

Understand the failure class

Background: "User not found", "Invalid user", and "does not exist": what missing-user lookup errors mean across Rocket.Chat, LiteLLM, Phabricator, rustfs, and pnpm — this error's family across 10 libraries.

Related errors

• session not found
• invalid password
• session login disabled
• session logins locked
• webrtc data channel not found

AI-assisted analysis of m1k1o/neko@b0f01cedea (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/b16e2f598fb31cab. Report an issue: GitHub.