phacility/phabricator · error · Exception

Credential has invalid type "%s"!

Error message

Credential has invalid type "%s"!

What it means

Thrown by PassphraseCredentialConduitController when PassphraseCredentialType::getTypeByConstant() fails to resolve the credential's stored type constant to an installed credential type implementation, i.e. the database row references a type that no installed extension provides. Note an upstream quirk: the message formats the already-null $type instead of the stored constant, so you must read $credential->getCredentialType() yourself to learn the real constant.

Source

Thrown at src/applications/passphrase/controller/PassphraseCredentialConduitController.php:33

          PhabricatorPolicyCapability::CAN_VIEW,
          PhabricatorPolicyCapability::CAN_EDIT,
        ))
      ->executeOne();
    if (!$credential) {
      return new Aphront404Response();
    }

    $view_uri = '/K'.$credential->getID();

    $token = id(new PhabricatorAuthSessionEngine())->requireHighSecuritySession(
      $viewer,
      $request,
      $view_uri);

    $type = PassphraseCredentialType::getTypeByConstant(
      $credential->getCredentialType());
    if (!$type) {
      throw new Exception(pht('Credential has invalid type "%s"!', $type));
    }

    $is_locked = $credential->getIsLocked();

    if ($is_locked) {
      return $this->newDialog()
        ->setUser($viewer)
        ->setTitle(pht('Credential Locked'))
        ->appendChild(
          pht(
            'This credential can not be made available via Conduit because '.
            'it is locked.'))
        ->addCancelButton($view_uri);
    }

    if ($request->isFormPost()) {
      $xactions = array();

View on GitHub (pinned to 5720a38cfe)

Solutions

  1. Inspect the stored constant: read $credential->getCredentialType() (credentialType column) for the affected K-object.
  2. Compare it with the constants from PassphraseCredentialType::getAllTypes() to see what is actually registered in this install.
  3. Re-enable or reinstall the extension that provides the missing type constant.
  4. If the type is gone for good, destroy the stale credential and create a new one of a supported type.

Example fix

// before
$type = PassphraseCredentialType::getTypeByConstant(
  $credential->getCredentialType());
if (!$type) {
  throw new Exception(pht('Credential has invalid type "%s"!', $type));
}

// after: report the actual constant, not the null lookup result
$type_const = $credential->getCredentialType();
$type = PassphraseCredentialType::getTypeByConstant($type_const);
if (!$type) {
  throw new Exception(
    pht(
      'Credential has invalid type "%s"!',
      $type_const));
}
Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

$type_const = $credential->getCredentialType();
$all = PassphraseCredentialType::getAllTypes();
if (empty($all[$type_const])) {
  // extension missing: reinstall it or destroy the stale credential
}

Type guard

function credential_type_is_installed($credential) {
  $all = PassphraseCredentialType::getAllTypes();
  return isset($all[$credential->getCredentialType()]);
}

Try / catch

try {
  $type = PassphraseCredentialType::getTypeByConstant(
    $credential->getCredentialType());
} catch (Exception $ex) {
  // log the stored constant, then prompt to reinstall the extension
}

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: Opening /K<id>/conduit (the 'make available via Conduit' workflow, which itself requires a high-security session) for a credential whose credentialType column holds a constant from an uninstalled or removed custom PassphraseCredentialType subclass.

Common situations: A custom credential type class was deleted or renamed during a refactor; a third-party auth extension was deactivated in phabricator config; a database restored from an install that had extra extensions enabled.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of phacility/phabricator@5720a38cfe (2026-08-21). Data as JSON: /api/errors/8f96a66fe822fb83. Report an issue: GitHub.