phacility/phabricator · error · Exception

Service "%s" is unrecognized, restricted, or you do not have

Error message

Service "%s" is unrecognized, restricted, or you do not have permission to edit it.

What it means

Thrown by PhabricatorRepository::assertValidRepositorySlug() when validating a repository short name (slug) that is the empty string. The slug becomes the canonical 'rh.../shortname' clone URI component, so an empty value is structurally invalid. The assertion runs when a short-name transaction sets the value (PhabricatorRepositorySlugTransaction), e.g. via the UI or the 'repository.edit' Conduit method, and is wrapped by isValidRepositorySlug() for non-throwing checks.

Source

Thrown at src/applications/almanac/editor/AlmanacBindingEditEngine.php:81

    if ($service_phid === null) {
      throw new Exception(
        pht(
          'When creating a new Almanac binding via the Conduit API, you '.
          'must provide a "service" transaction to select a service to bind.'));
    }

    $service = id(new AlmanacServiceQuery())
      ->setViewer($this->getViewer())
      ->withPHIDs(array($service_phid))
      ->requireCapabilities(
        array(
          PhabricatorPolicyCapability::CAN_VIEW,
          PhabricatorPolicyCapability::CAN_EDIT,
        ))
      ->executeOne();
    if (!$service) {
      throw new Exception(
        pht(
          'Service "%s" is unrecognized, restricted, or you do not have '.
          'permission to edit it.',
          $service_phid));
    }

    $this->setService($service);

    return $this->newEditableObject();
  }

  protected function newObjectQuery() {
    return id(new AlmanacBindingQuery())
      ->needProperties(true);
  }

  protected function getObjectCreateTitleText($object) {
    return pht('Create Binding');

View on GitHub (pinned to 5720a38cfe)

Solutions

1. Omit the short-name transaction entirely when no short name is wanted, instead of sending an empty value.
2. Populate the slug field with a valid name (letters, numbers, periods, hyphens, underscores, 1-64 chars).
3. Guard scripts with PhabricatorRepository::isValidRepositorySlug($slug) before applying the transaction.

Example fix

// before
$transactions[] = id(new PhabricatorRepositoryTransaction())
  ->setTransactionType(PhabricatorRepositorySlugTransaction::TRANSACTIONTYPE)
  ->setNewValue($slug); // $slug == ''

// after
if (strlen($slug)) {
  $transactions[] = id(new PhabricatorRepositoryTransaction())
    ->setTransactionType(PhabricatorRepositorySlugTransaction::TRANSACTIONTYPE)
    ->setNewValue($slug);
}

if (!strlen($slug)) { /* skip the short-name transaction entirely */ }

function isValidShortName($slug) {
  return PhabricatorRepository::isValidRepositorySlug((string)$slug);
}

try {
  PhabricatorRepository::assertValidRepositorySlug($slug);
} catch (Exception $ex) {
  // show $ex->getMessage() next to the form field / in the Conduit error
}

When it happens

Trigger: Applying a repository.edit transaction that sets 'slug' (short name) to '' — e.g. building transactions in a script where the slug variable is empty: PhabricatorRepositorySlugTransaction.php:62 calls assertValidRepositorySlug('') and the !strlen($slug) guard at PhabricatorRepository.php:371 throws.

Common situations: Automation scripts that always send a 'set slug' transaction even when no short name is configured, sending an empty string; UI forms submitting before the short-name field is filled; migrating repositories where the callsign-to-slug conversion produced '' (the storage layer falls back to the callsign elsewhere, but an explicit empty transaction still fails).

Related errors

• When creating a new Almanac interface via the Conduit API, y
• Device "%s" is unrecognized, restricted, or you do not have
• Interfaces must have a unique combination of network, device
• Another namespace with this name already exists. Each namesp
• When creating a new Almanac service via the Conduit API, you

AI-assisted analysis of phacility/phabricator@5720a38cfe (2026-08-21). Data as JSON: /api/errors/a70d29722d1d2b52. Report an issue: GitHub.