passbolt/passbolt_api · error · App\Error\Exception\ValidationException

Could not validate folder data.

Error message

Could not validate folder data.

What it means

A ValidationException raised by FoldersUpdateService::handleValidationErrors when the folder entity has validation errors after attempting to update folder metadata (name, personal flag, etc.). The entity's getErrors() is non-empty, so the service throws with the entity and FoldersTable attached so clients receive the per-field error details.

Solutions

1. Inspect the errors object in the 400 response to see which folder field failed and why.
2. Provide a non-empty 'name' within the column length limit (max 255 chars).
3. Only send editable fields (name, personal) with correct types: personal as boolean.
4. Fetch the folder first and patch only the fields that must change.

Example fix

// before
PUT /folders/{id} {"name":""}
// after
PUT /folders/{id} {"name":"Quarterly Budget"}

function validateFolderMeta(data) {
  const errors = {};
  if (typeof data.name !== 'string' || data.name.trim() === '') errors.name = 'required';
  if (data.name && data.name.length > 255) errors.name = 'max_length';
  if ('personal' in data && typeof data.personal !== 'boolean') errors.personal = 'boolean';
  return errors;
}

try {
  await foldersApi.update(folderId, meta);
} catch (e) {
  if (e.response?.status === 400 && e.response.data?.errors) {
    // map entity errors back to form fields
  }
  throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: PUT /folders/{folderId} (FoldersUpdateService::updateFolderMeta) with data failing FoldersTable rules: empty name, name exceeding length limits, invalid 'personal' boolean type, or non-whitelisted fields passed in the payload.

Common situations: API clients sending an empty or whitespace name, names longer than the column size (255), sending 'personal' as a string instead of boolean, or including read-only fields in the request body.

Understand the failure class

Background: Schema validation failed / invalid input schema: payload rejected because its shape doesn't match the expected schema — this error's family across 28 libraries.

Related errors

• Could not validate folder data.
• Could not validate folder data.
• Could not validate folder relation data.
• Could not validate folders relations history data.
• Could not validate move data.

AI-assisted analysis of passbolt/passbolt_api@31c1bbc10f (2026-09-17). Data as JSON: /api/errors/5903ba1b59f0e97a. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at plugins/PassboltCe/Folders/src/Service/Folders/FoldersUpdateService.php:174

            'modified_by' => true,
            'name' => true, // also required for v5 to clear out field
        ]);

        return $this->foldersTable->patchEntity($folder, $data, $options);
    }

    /**
     * Handle folder validation errors.
     *
     * @param \Passbolt\Folders\Model\Entity\Folder $folder The folder
     * @return void
     * @throws \App\Error\Exception\ValidationException If the provided data does not validate.
     */
    private function handleValidationErrors(Folder $folder): void
    {
        $errors = $folder->getErrors();
        if (!empty($errors)) {
            throw new ValidationException(__('Could not validate folder data.'), $folder, $this->foldersTable);
        }
    }
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 31c1bbc10f)