passbolt/passbolt_api · error · CakeException

" " is not a valid parent id for filter .

Error message

"{0}" is not a valid parent id for filter {1}.

What it means

Thrown by QueryStringComponent::validateFilterParentFolder when a single parent-folder id fails Cake\Validation::uuid() and is not falsy. false is explicitly allowed (meaning 'no parent' / root); a non-empty non-UUID value is rejected. Called per-entry by validateFilterParentFolders.

Solutions

1. Replace the value with the parent folder's UUID (or use false/omit for root-level folders).
2. Validate with \Cake\Validation\Validation::uuid($id) client-side before sending.
3. Check upstream storage/logging for id truncation or re-encoding.
4. Ensure the 'root' sentinel is sent as false, not '0' or 'false' strings, per API conventions.

Example fix

// before
GET /folders?filter[has-parent][]=MyDocuments
// after
GET /folders?filter[has-parent][]=98c2bef5-cd5f-59e7-a1a7-0107c9a7cf08
// or, for root folders:
GET /folders?filter[has-parent][]=false

use Cake\Validation\Validation;
if ($parentId !== false && (!is_string($parentId) || !Validation::uuid($parentId))) {
    throw new \InvalidArgumentException("Not a valid parent folder UUID: " . var_export($parentId, true));
}

function isParentFolderUuidOrNull(mixed $v): bool {
    return $v === false || $v === null || (is_string($v) && \Cake\Validation\Validation::uuid($v));
}

try {
    $ok = QueryStringComponent::validateFilterParentFolder($parentId, $filterName);
} catch (\Cake\Core\Exception\CakeException $e) {
    if (str_contains($e->getMessage(), 'is not a valid parent id')) {
        return $this->response->withStatus(400, 'Parent folder filters require a UUID or false');
    }
    throw $e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: GET /folders?filter[has-parent][]=not-a-uuid, a parent folder name instead of its id, or a corrupted/truncated id. Values like '0' would be treated as falsy ($parentId != false) and slip through, but any non-empty non-UUID string throws.

Common situations: Clients pass folder names/paths instead of UUIDs; ids truncated in logs or configs; environment-specific seed data uses placeholder strings; serializers mangle the false sentinel into strings like ''.

Understand the failure class

Background: "invalid id" errors: invalid identifier format — why libraries reject IDs before lookup, and how to fix them — this error's family across 37 libraries.

Related errors

• " " is not a valid group id for filter .
• " " is not a valid user id for filter .
• " " is not a valid group filter.
• " " is not a valid parent filter.
• " " is not a valid resource id for filter .

AI-assisted analysis of passbolt/passbolt_api@31c1bbc10f (2026-09-17). Data as JSON: /api/errors/cbb09f6b2576836d. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at src/Controller/Component/QueryStringComponent.php:614

        return true;
    }

    /**
     * Validate a filter that is a single parent id
     * Examples:
     * - Bueno: '98c2bef5-cd5f-59e7-a1a7-0107c9a7cf08'
     * - Bueno: false
     * - No Bueno: 'no-bueno'
     *
     * @param string|false $parentId uuid
     * @param string $filtername name of filters
     * @throw Exception if the filter is not valid
     * @return bool if validate
     */
    public static function validateFilterParentFolder(string|false $parentId, string $filtername)
    {
        if (!Validation::uuid($parentId) && $parentId != false) {
            throw new CakeException(__('"{0}" is not a valid parent id for filter {1}.', $parentId, $filtername));
        }

        return true;
    }

    /**
     * Validate a filter that is a timestamp
     *
     * @param mixed $values timestamp to check
     * @param string $filterName for error message display
     * @throw CakeException if the filter is not valid
     * @return bool if validate
     */
    public static function validateFilterTimestamp(mixed $values, string $filterName): bool
    {
        $timestamp = $values;
        if (!self::isTimestamp($timestamp)) {
            throw new CakeException(

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