overleaf/overleaf · error · Error

invalid --user-id: ${userIdArg}

Error message

invalid --user-id: ${userIdArg}

What it means

Immediately after checking presence of --user-id, set_user_ai_usage.mjs validates it with ObjectId.isValid and throws this error for syntactically invalid ids. This surfaces a clear message instead of letting the MongoDB driver fail later with a BSON casting error.

Source

Thrown at services/web/scripts/set_user_ai_usage.mjs:121

  # Reset a user's AI usage back to 0
  node scripts/set_user_ai_usage.mjs \\
    --user-id 5f9a2c8e1b3d4f0012abcd34 \\
    --feature aiFeatureUsage --usage 0 --commit
`

if (argv.help) {
  console.log(HELP_TEXT)
  process.exit(0)
}

const userIdArg = argv['user-id']
const edgeArg = argv.edge
const COMMIT = argv.commit === true

if (!userIdArg) throw new Error('missing --user-id (use --help for usage)')
if (!ObjectId.isValid(userIdArg)) {
  throw new Error(`invalid --user-id: ${userIdArg}`)
}

let feature
let usage
if (edgeArg !== undefined) {
  if (argv.feature !== undefined || argv.usage !== undefined) {
    throw new Error('--edge cannot be combined with --feature or --usage')
  }
  const preset = EDGE_PRESETS[edgeArg]
  if (!preset) {
    throw new Error(
      `invalid --edge ${JSON.stringify(edgeArg)}; expected one of ${Object.keys(EDGE_PRESETS).join(', ')}`
    )
  }
  feature = preset.feature
  usage = preset.usage
} else {
  feature = argv.feature

View on GitHub (pinned to 28ad3b03b7)

Solutions

1. Supply a 24-char hex ObjectId: node scripts/set_user_ai_usage.mjs --user-id 660fabc123def45678901234 ...
2. Resolve the _id from email: db.users.findOne({email: '<email>'}, {_id: 1})
3. Sanitize the value (strip whitespace/quotes) and re-check length (24) and hex charset
4. Run ObjectId.isValid('<value>') locally to confirm before invoking the script

Example fix

// before
node scripts/set_user_ai_usage.mjs --user-id alice@corp.com --feature chat --usage 5
// after
node scripts/set_user_ai_usage.mjs --user-id 660fabc123def45678901234 --feature chat --usage 5

import { ObjectId } from 'mongodb'
const id = argv['user-id']
if (!id || !ObjectId.isValid(String(id))) {
  throw new Error(`--user-id must be a 24-char hex ObjectId, got: ${JSON.stringify(id)}`)
}

function isValidObjectIdString(v) { return typeof v === 'string' && /^[0-9a-fA-F]{24}$/.test(v) }

try {
  await runScript(['--user-id', id, ...rest])
} catch (err) {
  if (/invalid --user-id/.test(err.message)) {
    console.error(`'${id}' is not an ObjectId — resolve _id via db.users.findOne({email: ...})`)
  } else throw err
}

When it happens

Trigger: Passing --user-id an email address, username, numeric/SQL id, UUID, or a hex string that is not exactly 24 valid hex characters (too short/long, non-hex characters).

Common situations: Email pasted in place of the Mongo _id; id truncated by line-wrap when copying from a ticket; id from another environment with different format; quotes/whitespace included in the pasted value.

Related errors

• user ID not valid
• bad docId: usage: $ node scripts/remove_deleted_docs.js [DOC
• invalid project id
• user ID not valid: ${userId}
• users is not an array

AI-assisted analysis of overleaf/overleaf@28ad3b03b7 (2026-09-03). Data as JSON: /api/errors/80ee2d247c5279fd. Report an issue: GitHub.