phacility/phabricator · error · Exception

Edge transactions must have PHIDs or edge specs as values (f

Error message

Edge transactions must have PHIDs or edge specs as values (found value "%s" on transaction of type "%s").

What it means

Each value in an edge delta list must either be an array (an edge specification dict) or a scalar equal to its own key (the plain destination PHID repeated). checkEdgeList() throws this exception when a value is a scalar that differs from its key.

Source

Thrown at src/applications/transactions/editor/PhabricatorApplicationTransactionEditor.php:2685

    return $result;
  }

  private function checkEdgeList($list, $edge_type) {
    if (!$list) {
      return;
    }
    foreach ($list as $key => $item) {
      if (phid_get_type($key) === PhabricatorPHIDConstants::PHID_TYPE_UNKNOWN) {
        throw new Exception(
          pht(
            'Edge transactions must have destination PHIDs as in edge '.
            'lists (found key "%s" on transaction of type "%s").',
            $key,
            $edge_type));
      }
      if (!is_array($item) && $item !== $key) {
        throw new Exception(
          pht(
            'Edge transactions must have PHIDs or edge specs as values '.
            '(found value "%s" on transaction of type "%s").',
            $item,
            $edge_type));
      }
    }
  }

  private function normalizeEdgeTransactionValue(
    PhabricatorApplicationTransaction $xaction,
    $edge,
    $dst_phid) {

    if (!is_array($edge)) {
      if ($edge != $dst_phid) {
        throw new Exception(
          pht(

View on GitHub (pinned to 5720a38cfe)

Solutions

For plain edges use the PHID as both key and value: array($phid => $phid).
For edges with metadata, use an array spec as the value: array($phid => array('data' => array(...))).
When building from a list of destination PHIDs, use array_fuse($phids) to produce identical key/value pairs.

Example fix

// before
$new = array('+' => array_fuse($phids, 'sizeof'));

// after
$new = array('+' => array_fuse($phids));

Defensive patterns

Strategy: type-guard

Validate before calling

// Canonical builder: PHID keys, matching scalar values
$new = array('+' => array_fuse($destination_phids));

Type guard

function isLegalEdgeListEntry($key, $value) {
  return is_array($value) || $value === $key;
}

Prevention

Use array_fuse($phids) for plain edge lists so keys always equal values.
Never combine two different PHID arrays into a key=>value dict.
Review any code that hand-builds edge dicts for key/value mismatches.

When it happens

Trigger: Building an edge list like array('PHID-USER-aaa' => 'PHID-PROJ-bbb') where key and value disagree, or mapping a list of PHIDs with array_combine() over mismatched arrays producing key=>value pairs that don't match.

Common situations: Copy-paste where the key was updated but the value wasn't; code that zips two different PHID arrays into one dict; passing an inverted key/value mapping from a Conduit client.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of phacility/phabricator@5720a38cfe (2026-08-21). Data as JSON: /api/errors/8c62febd62a61110. Report an issue: GitHub.