new user is created on first login in noauth mode

Error message

new user is created on first login in noauth mode

What it means

In noauth mode there is a single anonymous profile auto-created on first connection; there is no user store. Insert() is unsupported by design and always returns this error, because no new users can exist in noauth mode.

Source

Thrown at server/internal/member/noauth/provider.go:54

	return nil
}

func (provider *MemberProviderCtx) Authenticate(username string, password string) (string, types.MemberProfile, error) {
	// generate random token
	token, err := utils.NewUID(5)
	if err != nil {
		return "", types.MemberProfile{}, err
	}

	// id is username with token
	id := fmt.Sprintf("%s-%s", username, token)

	provider.profile.Name = username
	return id, provider.profile, nil
}

func (provider *MemberProviderCtx) Insert(username string, password string, profile types.MemberProfile) (string, error) {
	return "", errors.New("new user is created on first login in noauth mode")
}

func (provider *MemberProviderCtx) UpdateProfile(id string, profile types.MemberProfile) error {
	return nil
}

func (provider *MemberProviderCtx) UpdatePassword(id string, password string) error {
	return errors.New("noauth mode does not have password")
}

func (provider *MemberProviderCtx) Select(id string) (types.MemberProfile, error) {
	return types.MemberProfile{}, errors.New("cannot select user in noauth mode")
}

func (provider *MemberProviderCtx) SelectAll(limit int, offset int) (map[string]types.MemberProfile, error) {
	return map[string]types.MemberProfile{}, nil
}

View on GitHub (pinned to b0f01cedea)

Solutions

Do not create users in noauth mode; all clients share the single anonymous profile.
Switch the deployment to multiuser or another dynamic member provider if multiple accounts are needed.
Adjust client tooling to skip user-creation calls when the provider is noauth.

Example fix

// before
id, err := memberClient.Insert(username, password, profile)

// after
if memberProvider == "noauth" {
    return errors.New("noauth mode has a single anonymous user; no creation needed")
}
id, err := memberClient.Insert(username, password, profile)

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

if memberProvider == "noauth" {
    return errors.New("noauth mode has a single anonymous user; user creation not needed")
}
id, err := memberClient.Insert(username, password, profile)

Type guard

func isNoauthUnsupportedErr(err error) bool {
    return err != nil && strings.Contains(err.Error(), "in noauth mode")
}

Try / catch

id, err := memberClient.Insert(username, password, profile)
if err != nil {
    if isNoauthUnsupportedErr(err) {
        log.Printf("noauth deployment: skip user creation: %v", err)
    }
    return err
}

Prevention

Skip all member CRUD calls when the provider is noauth.
Treat noauth deployments as single-user/anonymous by design.
Switch to multiuser or a dynamic provider when multiple accounts are needed.
Conditionally render user-management UI based on the reported provider.

When it happens

Trigger: Any call to the member Insert API (create-user endpoint) while the server runs with member provider 'noauth'.

Common situations: Generic admin tooling that creates users against any neko deployment hits a noauth (single anonymous user) deployment; every create call fails because only the implicit anonymous user exists.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of m1k1o/neko@b0f01cedea (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/dd99e809e63d0ed4. Report an issue: GitHub.