What causes "$message" in passbolt/passbolt_api?

Fix the recursion to pass the nested array, not $error: $this->displayValidationError($message, $io).

$message

Error message

$message

What it means

SyncCommandTrait::displayValidationError recursively prints entity validation errors to the console. When a field's error value is itself an array (nested error messages), it recurses via $this->displayValidationError($error, $io); passing the wrong variable means nested errors are re-printed from the top level, so the message displayed is an arbitrary $message from the loop rather than the intended field-specific text. It is a diagnostic output helper, not a thrown exception.

Solutions

Fix the recursion to pass the nested array, not $error: $this->displayValidationError($message, $io).
Run with --verbose to see the full entry and inspect the actual validation errors on the entity.
Fix the underlying directory data (invalid emails, duplicates) so entities validate.

Example fix

// before
$this->displayValidationError($error, $io);
// after
$this->displayValidationError($message, $io);

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

// Before syncing, validate entries and surface errors properly
foreach ($users as $user) {
    if ($user->getErrors()) {
        foreach ($user->getErrors() as $field => $errs) {
            $io->err($field . ': ' . json_encode($errs));
        }
    }
}

Type guard

if (is_array($message)) {
    $this->displayValidationError($message, $io); // recurse on the nested array
} else {
    $io->err(...);
}

Prevention

Validate directory data before running sync
Use --verbose to inspect per-entry errors
Keep attribute mapping aligned with passbolt entity rules

When it happens

Trigger: Running `bin/cake passbolt directory_sync` when synced LDAP users/groups fail entity validation and any validation error has nested array messages (e.g. rule-based errors like 'user_exists' returning arrays).

Common situations: Directory entries with invalid emails, duplicate users, or custom validation rules that nest error arrays; developers debugging directory sync see mangled or duplicated output.

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

AI-assisted analysis of passbolt/passbolt_api@31c1bbc10f (2026-09-17). Data as JSON: /api/errors/2d7890ca513ec72b. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at plugins/PassboltEe/DirectorySync/src/Command/SyncCommandTrait.php:144

    }

    /**
     * Display the entity validation errors
     *
     * @param array $errors validation errors
     * @param \Cake\Console\ConsoleIo $io Console IO.
     * @return void
     */
    protected function displayValidationError(array $errors, ConsoleIo $io): void
    {
        foreach ($errors as $fieldname => $error) {
            foreach ($error as $message) {
                if (is_array($message)) {
                    $this->displayValidationError($error, $io);
                    break;
                } else {
                    $message = str_pad('', $this->pad) . ucfirst(str_replace('_', ' ', $fieldname)) . ': ' . $message;
                    $io->err($message);
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

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