payloadcms/payload · error · Error

No auth config found for collection: ${collection}

Error message

No auth config found for collection: ${collection}

What it means

Thrown in the server-function `login` when `payload.collections[collection]?.config.auth` is falsy. Either the collection slug does not exist on the resolved Payload instance, or it exists but is not an auth-enabled collection. This is a plain `Error` (not an `APIError`), so it has no HTTP status — it surfaces wherever the adapter calls `login()`.

Source

Thrown at packages/payload/src/auth/serverFunctions/login.ts:48

/**
 * Logs a user in and writes the auth cookie through the supplied `serverAdapter`,
 * so the function is framework-agnostic; each adapter binds its own.
 */
export async function login<TSlug extends AuthCollectionSlug>({
  collection,
  config,
  email,
  password,
  serverAdapter,
  username,
}: LoginArgs<TSlug>): Promise<LoginResult<TSlug>> {
  const payload = await getPayload({ config, cron: true })

  const authConfig = payload.collections[collection]?.config.auth

  if (!authConfig) {
    throw new Error(`No auth config found for collection: ${collection}`)
  }

  const loginWithUsername = authConfig.loginWithUsername ?? false

  if (loginWithUsername) {
    if (loginWithUsername.allowEmailLogin) {
      if (!email && !username) {
        throw new Error('Email or username is required.')
      }
    } else {
      if (!username) {
        throw new Error('Username is required.')
      }
    }
  } else {
    if (!email) {
      throw new Error('Email is required.')
    }

View on GitHub (pinned to 00c58b35c0)

Solutions

1. Confirm the slug exists in `config.collections` and the collection is declared with `auth: true` (or `auth: {...}`).
2. Use the typed `AuthCollectionSlug` to catch slug typos at compile time.
3. Ensure `getPayload({ config })` receives the same config that defines the collection.
4. After adding/renaming a collection, rebuild and restart so the slug resolves.

Example fix

// before
await login({ collection: 'admins', config, password, email, serverAdapter })
// after — verify the slug is a registered auth collection
if (!payload.collections['users']?.config.auth) {
  throw new Error('Configuration error: users collection is not auth-enabled')
}
await login({ collection: 'users', config, password, email, serverAdapter })

// Verify the collection is a registered auth collection before login
const payload = await getPayload({ config })
const authConfig = payload.collections[collection]?.config.auth
if (!authConfig) {
  throw new Error(`Collection ${String(collection)} is not an auth collection`)
}
await login({ collection, config, email, password, serverAdapter })

function isAuthCollection(payload: Payload, slug: string): slug is AuthCollectionSlug {
  return !!payload.collections[slug]?.config.auth
}

// Plain Error (not APIError) — catch broadly and report config error
try {
  await login({ collection, config, email, password, serverAdapter })
} catch (e) {
  if (e instanceof Error && /No auth config/.test(e.message)) {
    // surface a configuration error to the operator
  } else throw e
}

When it happens

Trigger: The adapter's `login({ collection, ... })` is called with a slug that is misspelled, not registered in `config.collections`, or registered without `auth: true`. The lookup `payload.collections[collection]` returns undefined (`.config.auth` → undefined).

Common situations: Frontend hard-codes a collection slug that was renamed in config; a collection was removed but the auth UI still references it; `auth` was not set on the collection config (it's a content collection, not an auth collection); config loaded asynchronously and `getPayload` resolved a stale/partial instance.

Related errors

• Email or username is required.
• validation:required
• error:notAllowedToPerformAction
• error:notAllowedToPerformAction
• error:notAllowedToPerformAction

AI-assisted analysis of payloadcms/payload@00c58b35c0 (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/c7427d0ed4f98a0c. Report an issue: GitHub.