mattermost-community/focalboard · warning

request entity too large

Error message

request entity too large

What it means

ErrRequestEntityTooLarge indicates the uploaded file or request body exceeds the allowed size limit. handleUploadFile returns it when an uploaded file exceeds the configured MaxFileSize, and errorResponse translates it to HTTP 413. It protects the server from oversized uploads.

Source

Thrown at server/model/error.go:26

	"strings"

	mmModel "github.com/mattermost/mattermost/server/public/model"

	pluginapi "github.com/mattermost/mattermost/server/public/pluginapi"
)

var (
	ErrViewsLimitReached        = errors.New("views limit reached for board")
	ErrPatchUpdatesLimitedCards = errors.New("patch updates cards that are limited")

	ErrInsufficientLicense = errors.New("appropriate license required")

	ErrCategoryPermissionDenied = errors.New("category doesn't belong to user")
	ErrCategoryDeleted          = errors.New("category is deleted")

	ErrBoardMemberIsLastAdmin = errors.New("cannot leave a board with no admins")

	ErrRequestEntityTooLarge = errors.New("request entity too large")

	ErrInvalidBoardSearchField = errors.New("invalid board search field")
)

// ErrNotFound is an error type that can be returned by store APIs
// when a query unexpectedly fetches no records.
type ErrNotFound struct {
	entity string
}

// NewErrNotFound creates a new ErrNotFound instance.
func NewErrNotFound(entity string) *ErrNotFound {
	return &ErrNotFound{
		entity: entity,
	}
}

func (nf *ErrNotFound) Error() string {

View on GitHub (pinned to a84bbb65e3)

Solutions

1. Reduce the file size or compress it before uploading
2. Increase service settings (ServiceSettings.MaxFileSize and any proxy/file limits) in config.json and restart
3. Check intermediary proxies (nginx client_max_body_size) match the app limit

Example fix

// before
maxFileSize := 5 * 1024 * 1024
// after
// config.json
"ServiceSettings": { "MaxFileSize": 52428800 }

file, header, err := r.FormFile("file")
if err == nil && header.Size > maxFileSize {
    http.Error(w, "file too large", http.StatusRequestEntityTooLarge)
    return
}

func isEntityTooLargeErr(err error) bool {
    return errors.Is(err, model.ErrRequestEntityTooLarge)
}

err := app.HandleUploadFile(...)
if errors.Is(err, model.ErrRequestEntityTooLarge) {
    http.Error(w, err.Error(), http.StatusRequestEntityTooLarge)
    return
}

When it happens

Trigger: POST /api/v1/boards/{boardID}/files (handleUploadFile) with a file larger than the server's MaxFileSize setting; any handler routing through errorResponse that detects an oversized entity.

Common situations: Uploading large design files/videos to cards; server MaxFileSize lowered or plugin proxy limits (proxy_* settings) smaller than expected; reverse proxies with their own body-size caps (client_max_body_size).

Related errors

• block fields size limit exceeded
• at least one board is required
• at least one block is required
• team ID cannot be empty
• board ids and patches need to match

AI-assisted analysis of mattermost-community/focalboard@a84bbb65e3 (2026-08-30). Data as JSON: /api/errors/cdcf5ad392b65526. Report an issue: GitHub.