phacility/phabricator · error · DifferentialFieldParseException

The objects you have listed include objects which do not exi

Error message

The objects you have listed include objects which do not exist (%s).

What it means

Variant of the PhabricatorObjectListQuery failure where all references are the right type but at least one resolved to nothing ($missing non-empty, $invalid empty) - a nonexistent object, a deleted object, or one invisible to the acting user. With partial results disallowed, the query throws DifferentialFieldParseException listing the unresolvable references.

Source

Thrown at src/applications/phid/query/PhabricatorObjectListQuery.php:191

    // extra API to loosen this. It's not clear that this will be useful
    // elsewhere any time soon, so let's cross that bridge when we come to it.

    if (!$this->getAllowPartialResults()) {
      if ($invalid && $missing) {
        throw new DifferentialFieldParseException(
          pht(
            'The objects you have listed include objects of the wrong '.
            'type (%s) and objects which do not exist (%s).',
            implode(', ', $invalid),
            implode(', ', $missing)));
      } else if ($invalid) {
        throw new DifferentialFieldParseException(
          pht(
            'The objects you have listed include objects of the wrong '.
            'type (%s).',
            implode(', ', $invalid)));
      } else if ($missing) {
        throw new DifferentialFieldParseException(
          pht(
            'The objects you have listed include objects which do not '.
            'exist (%s).',
            implode(', ', $missing)));
      }
    }

    if ($suffixes) {
      foreach ($result as $key => $phid) {
        $result[$key] = array(
          'phid' => $phid,
          'suffixes' => idx($suffix_map, $key, array()),
        );
      }
    }

    return array_values($result);
  }

View on GitHub (pinned to 5720a38cfe)

Solutions

Correct or remove the nonexistent references named in the message
Verify each reference exists and is visible to the current editor before re-submitting
For tolerant programmatic imports, build the query with setAllowPartialResults(true) and log what dropped out

Example fix

// before
Subscribers: alice, gone-user
// after
Subscribers: alice  // remove users that no longer exist

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

// Confirm every reference resolves before submitting the field
foreach (explode(',', $raw_value) as $ref) {
  $ref = trim($ref);
  $object = id(new PhabricatorObjectQuery())
    ->setViewer($viewer)
    ->withNames(array($ref))
    ->executeOne();
  if (!$object) {
    // nonexistent or policy-hidden: drop it and warn the user
  }
}

Try / catch

try {
  $phids = id(new PhabricatorObjectListQuery())
    ->setObjectList($list)
    ->setAllowedTypes($allowed)
    ->execute();
} catch (DifferentialFieldParseException $ex) {
  // missing refs are listed in the message; show them per-field
}

Prevention

Resolve each username/monogram before adding it to a field
Remember policy visibility: refs invisible to the editor count as missing
For tolerant imports use setAllowPartialResults(true) and log dropped refs

When it happens

Trigger: Reviewers field with a typo'd or deleted username; referencing a project monogram that was renamed/disabled; subscribers list containing users invisible to the editor due to policy; API clients sending PHIDs for objects deleted since export.

Common situations: Deleted or renamed accounts left in templates; policy-protected objects the viewer cannot see; stale data replayed by migration tooling.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of phacility/phabricator@5720a38cfe (2026-08-21). Data as JSON: /api/errors/7ff147ea835b6a46. Report an issue: GitHub.