What causes "Unable to load object ("%s") for webhook request ("%s")." in phacility/phabricator?

Accept the permanent failure -- the object no longer exists, so the payload cannot be sent.

phacility/phabricator · error · PhabricatorWorkerPermanentFailureException

Unable to load object ("%s") for webhook request ("%s").

Error message

Unable to load object ("%s") for webhook request ("%s").

What it means

The worker loads the object the webhook request is about using PhabricatorObjectQuery as the omnipotent user (so policies are not the issue). If the row is gone, the request is marked failed with ERRORTYPE_HOOK / ERROR_OBJECT and the task permanently fails -- the payload cannot be built for a deleted object.

Source

Thrown at src/applications/herald/worker/HeraldWebhookWorker.php:93

          'fetch URI: %s',
          $hook->getPHID(),
          $request_phid,
          $ex->getMessage()));
    }

    $object_phid = $request->getObjectPHID();

    $object = id(new PhabricatorObjectQuery())
      ->setViewer($viewer)
      ->withPHIDs(array($object_phid))
      ->executeOne();
    if (!$object) {
      $this->failRequest(
        $request,
        HeraldWebhookRequest::ERRORTYPE_HOOK,
        HeraldWebhookRequest::ERROR_OBJECT);

      throw new PhabricatorWorkerPermanentFailureException(
        pht(
          'Unable to load object ("%s") for webhook request ("%s").',
          $object_phid,
          $request_phid));
    }

    $xaction_query = PhabricatorApplicationTransactionQuery::newQueryForObject(
      $object);
    $xaction_phids = $request->getTransactionPHIDs();
    if ($xaction_phids) {
      $xactions = $xaction_query
        ->setViewer($viewer)
        ->withObjectPHIDs(array($object_phid))
        ->withPHIDs($xaction_phids)
        ->execute();
      $xactions = mpull($xactions, null, 'getPHID');
    } else {
      $xactions = array();

View on GitHub (pinned to 5720a38cfe)

Solutions

Accept the permanent failure -- the object no longer exists, so the payload cannot be sent.
If these are noise, disable the hook or its rule for object types that get deleted frequently.
Re-fire for a live object with './bin/herald call-webhook --id <hook> --object <object>'.

Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

// When queueing webhook requests, skip objects that no longer load:
$object = id(new PhabricatorObjectQuery())
  ->setViewer(PhabricatorUser::getOmnipotentUser())
  ->withPHIDs(array($object_phid))
  ->executeOne();
if (!$object) {
  return; // object deleted; nothing to deliver
}

Try / catch

try {
  // queue/execute webhook work for an object
} catch (PhabricatorWorkerPermanentFailureException $ex) {
  // object or request row disappeared; permanent, do not retry
  phlog($ex->getMessage());
}

Prevention

Expect deletions to race queued webhook tasks; treat ERROR_OBJECT permanent failures as normal.
Batch-delete objects only after draining or pausing related webhook queues if deliveries matter.

When it happens

Trigger: The object (task, revision, etc.) was deleted between the time the Herald rule queued the webhook request and the time the worker task executed; task data references an object removed by a partial DB restore.

Common situations: Object deletions racing a queued webhook backlog; environments where scripts mass-delete objects while hooks are active.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of phacility/phabricator@5720a38cfe (2026-08-21). Data as JSON: /api/errors/cbe267f1e85bae3b. Report an issue: GitHub.