passbolt/passbolt_api · error · Cake\Http\Exception\BadRequestException

This is not a valid Ajax/Json request.

Error message

This is not a valid Ajax/Json request.

What it means

A BadRequestException thrown by NotificationOrgSettingsPostController::_validateRequestData when the request is not recognized as a JSON/Ajax request. Passbolt controllers of this style require the Accept header to indicate JSON so the request body can be parsed as JSON data.

Solutions

1. Add header 'Accept: application/json' to the request.
2. Send the payload with 'Content-Type: application/json' and a JSON body.
3. If using the passbolt JS SDK or an XHR client, keep the default XHR headers (X-Requested-With) intact.
4. Do not submit the endpoint via a plain HTML form post.

Example fix

// before
curl -X POST -H 'X-Http-Token: <token>' -d 'settings=1' /email-notification-settings/org-settings

// after
curl -X POST -H 'X-Http-Token: <token>' -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -H 'Accept: application/json' -d '{"send_admin_user_setup_complete":true}' /email-notification-settings/org-settings

if (stripos($acceptHeader, 'application/json') === false) {
    throw new BadRequestException('Request must accept application/json');
}

try {
    $response = $client->postEmailNotificationOrgSettings($data);
} catch (BadRequestException $e) {
    if (str_contains($e->getMessage(), 'Ajax/Json')) {
        // add Accept: application/json / Content-Type: application/json and retry once
    }
}

When it happens

Trigger: POST to /email-notification-settings/org-settings with role check passing but without 'application/json' in the Accept header (and not an XHR request), so $this->request->is('json') returns false.

Common situations: Calling the endpoint with curl or Postman with default Accept header (text/html, */*); form posts from plain HTML without X-Requested-With; integration scripts forgetting the Accept: application/json header.

Understand the failure class

Background: "Invalid ... format", "must be in format X", "does not look like a ..." — invalid argument format errors across CLI tools and libraries — this error's family across 17 libraries.

Related errors

• Ajax/Json request not supported.
• Ajax/Json request not supported.
• Please use .json extension in URL or accept…
• This is not a valid Ajax/Json request.
• This is not a valid Ajax/Json request.

AI-assisted analysis of passbolt/passbolt_api@31c1bbc10f (2026-09-17). Data as JSON: /api/errors/11f3f01410dfea6a. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at plugins/PassboltCe/EmailNotificationSettings/src/Controller/NotificationOrgSettings/NotificationOrgSettingsPostController.php:71

        $msg = __('The notification settings for the organization were updated.');
        $this->success($msg, $this->_formatForOutput($flatten));
    }

    /**
     * Validate the request body
     *
     * @return array if the request body is valid
     * @throws \Cake\Http\Exception\ForbiddenException If the user making request is not admin
     * @throws \Cake\Http\Exception\BadRequestException If the request is not a Ajax/Json type
     */
    private function _validateRequestData(): array
    {
        if ($this->User->role() !== Role::ADMIN) {
            throw new ForbiddenException(__('You are not allowed to access this location.'));
        }
        if (!$this->request->is('json')) {
            throw new BadRequestException(__('This is not a valid Ajax/Json request.'));
        }

        $data = $this->request->getData();

        foreach ($data as $key => $value) {
            $data[$key] = QueryStringComponent::normalizeBoolean($value);
        }

        $form = new EmailNotificationSettingsForm();

        if (!$form->validate($data)) {
            $errors = $form->getErrors();

            throw new CustomValidationException(__('The supplied email notification settings are not valid'), $errors);
        }

        $data = EmailNotificationSettingsForm::formatFormDataToOrgSettings($data);

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