public-activity/public_activity · error · PublicActivity::NoKeyProvided

No key provided for #{self.class.name}

Error message

No key provided for #{self.class.name}

What it means

Error "No key provided for #{self.class.name}" thrown in public-activity/public_activity.

Source

Thrown at lib/public_activity/common.rb:292

    end

    # Prepares settings used during creation of Activity record.
    # params passed directly to tracked model have priority over
    # settings specified in tracked() method
    #
    # @see #create_activity
    # @return [Hash] Settings with preserved options that were passed
    # @api private
    # @overload prepare_settings(action, options = {})
    #   @see #create_activity
    # @overload prepare_settings(options = {})
    #   @see #create_activity
    def prepare_settings(*args)
      raw_options = args.extract_options!
      action      = [args.first, raw_options.delete(:action)].compact.first
      key         = prepare_key(action, raw_options)

      raise NoKeyProvided, "No key provided for #{self.class.name}" unless key

      prepare_custom_fields(raw_options.except(:params)).merge(
        {
          key:        key,
          owner:      prepare_relation(:owner,     raw_options),
          recipient:  prepare_relation(:recipient, raw_options),
          parameters: prepare_parameters(raw_options),
        }
      )
    end

    # Prepares and resolves custom fields
    # users can pass to `tracked` method
    # @private
    def prepare_custom_fields(options)
      customs = self.class.activity_custom_fields_global.clone
      customs.merge!(activity_custom_fields) if activity_custom_fields
      customs.merge!(options)

View on GitHub (pinned to 1f3a5568ad)

Solutions

1. Pass an explicit key when calling create_activity: record.create_activity(key: 'article.create').
2. Derive the key by passing an action symbol: record.create_activity(action: :create), so prepare_key builds '<model>.<action>'.
3. Ensure the key/action option is not nil before tracking: check options[:key] and options[:action] in your tracked call.

Example fix

@article.create_activity(key: 'article.comment', owner: current_user, parameters: {comment: params[:comment]})

When it happens

Trigger: Raised by prepare_settings in lib/public_activity/common.rb:292 when no activity key can be resolved. Triggers when create_activity is called without an action argument and without an :action or :key option, and the model class was not declared with tracked(...) providing a default key. Common when the caller forgets to pass the action (e.g. article.create_activity with no arguments), or when the tracked block's key generation returned nil.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of public-activity/public_activity@1f3a5568ad (2026-08-23). Data as JSON: /api/errors/1593515d582a252a. Report an issue: GitHub.