plandex-ai/plandex · error

error creating account: %v

Error message

error creating account: %v

What it means

The create-account HTTP handler wraps any failure from db.CreateAccount inside its WithTx transaction with this message. It is an aggregate wrapper: the real cause (invalid email, duplicate user, DB failure) is nested inside the wrapped error text.

Source

Thrown at app/server/handlers/accounts.go:71

		if err != nil {
			log.Printf("Error validating email verification: %v\n", err)
			http.Error(w, "Error validating email verification: "+err.Error(), http.StatusInternalServerError)
			return
		}
	}

	var apiErr *shared.ApiError
	var user *db.User
	var userId string
	var token string
	var orgId string

	err = db.WithTx(r.Context(), "create account", func(tx *sqlx.Tx) error {
		res, err := db.CreateAccount(req.UserName, req.Email, emailVerificationId, tx)

		if err != nil {
			return fmt.Errorf("error creating account: %v", err)
		}

		user = res.User
		userId = user.Id
		token = res.Token
		orgId = res.OrgId

		_, apiErr = hooks.ExecHook(hooks.CreateAccount, hooks.HookParams{
			Auth: &types.ServerAuth{
				User:  user,
				OrgId: orgId,
			},
		})

		return nil
	})

	if apiErr != nil {

View on GitHub (pinned to e2d772072e)

Solutions

1. Read the full chained error text to find the root cause (the inner %v contains the db-level reason)
2. If the inner error says 'user already exists', direct the user to sign in instead (409)
3. Validate req.UserName and req.Email before invoking the handler logic
4. Check database health if the inner error is a connection/query failure
5. Retry only for transient inner errors; transaction rollback guarantees no partial account

Example fix

// before
return fmt.Errorf("error creating account: %v", err)
// after
return fmt.Errorf("error creating account: %w", err) // unwrap to distinguish duplicate vs db failure

if req.UserName == "" || !validEmail(req.Email) {
    http.Error(w, "invalid name or email", http.StatusBadRequest); return
}

if err := db.WithTx(r.Context(), "create account", func(tx *sqlx.Tx) error {
    res, err := db.CreateAccount(req.UserName, req.Email, emailVerificationId, tx)
    if err != nil {
        if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "user already exists") { return errEmailTaken } // → 409
        return fmt.Errorf("error creating account: %w", err)
    }
    return nil
}); err != nil {
    if errors.Is(err, errEmailTaken) { http.Error(w, "account exists", http.StatusConflict); return }
    http.Error(w, err.Error(), http.StatusInternalServerError)
}

When it happens

Trigger: A POST to the account-creation endpoint where CreateAccount fails — e.g. CreateUser returned invalid email or duplicate email, token/org creation failed, or the surrounding WithTx transaction was rolled back.

Common situations: Duplicate sign-up attempt (surfaces 'error creating account: user already exists for email: ...'), malformed sign-up payload, or database outage during registration.

Related errors

• error renaming plan: %v
• error updating plan active branches: %v
• Error marshalling users: {err.Error()}
• connection to plan stream timed out due to missing heartbeat
• error loading accounts: %v

AI-assisted analysis of plandex-ai/plandex@e2d772072e (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/bb4d9421738464e7. Report an issue: GitHub.