What causes "error fetching user: %s" in wtfutil/wtf?

Verify the user GID exists and is active: GET /users/ with the same token.

error fetching user: %s

Error message

error fetching user: %s

What it means

Returned by getOtherUserEmail when asana.User.Fetch fails for the given user GID. After passing the empty-uid guard, the library fetches the user to obtain their email; any API error (unknown GID, permissions, network, rate limit) is wrapped with this message.

Source

Thrown at modules/asana/client.go:215

		assignee:    assignString,
	}

	return taskItem

}

func getOtherUserEmail(client *asana.Client, uid string) (string, error) {
	if uid == "" {
		return "", fmt.Errorf("missing uid")
	}

	u := &asana.User{
		ID: uid,
	}

	err := u.Fetch(client, nil)
	if err != nil {
		return "", fmt.Errorf("error fetching user: %s", err)
	}

	return u.Email, nil
}

func getCurrentUserId(client *asana.Client, mode string) (string, error) {
	if strings.HasSuffix(mode, "_all") {
		return "", nil
	}
	u, err := client.CurrentUser()
	if err != nil {
		return "", fmt.Errorf("error getting current user: %s", err)
	}

	return u.ID, nil
}

func findSection(client *asana.Client, project *asana.Project, sectionName string) (string, error) {

View on GitHub (pinned to bb838c1ccb)

Solutions

Verify the user GID exists and is active: GET /users/<gid> with the same token.
Handle deactivated/removed users gracefully — treat missing users as an empty email instead of failing the whole fetch.
Confirm the token's account can see the other user (guest tokens often cannot list workspace members).
Retry on transient network/5xx errors surfaced in the wrapped message.

Example fix

// before
err := u.Fetch(client, nil)
if err != nil {
    return "", fmt.Errorf("error fetching user: %s", err)
}
// after
err := u.Fetch(client, nil)
if err != nil {
    return "", fmt.Errorf("error fetching user %s: %w", uid, err)
}

Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

if uid == "" {
    return fmt.Errorf("skip: empty user id")
}
// optionally pre-check visibility: GET /users/<gid> succeeds with the same token

Type guard

func validUserID(uid string) bool {
    return uid != "" && len(uid) >= 5
}

Try / catch

email, err := getOtherUserEmail(client, uid)
if err != nil {
    log.Printf("could not fetch user %s (may be deactivated or hidden): %v", uid, err)
    email = "" // degrade gracefully instead of failing the whole fetch
}

Prevention

Handle deactivated users: old tasks keep assignees who left the workspace.
Use a full-member token, not a guest token, so other users' profiles are visible.
Validate user GIDs sourced from task data before fetching.
Log and skip individual user lookups rather than aborting the entire task fetch.

When it happens

Trigger: Calling getOtherUserEmail with a uid that is not a valid/accessible Asana user GID: user deactivated or removed from the workspace, GID truncated/mistyped, token lacking visibility of that user, or a transient API/network failure during u.Fetch(client, nil).

Common situations: Task assigned to a user who has since left the workspace (deactivated accounts remain on old tasks); malformed uid parsed from task data; token from a guest account that cannot see other members' profiles.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of wtfutil/wtf@bb838c1ccb (2026-09-03). Data as JSON: /api/errors/5afb2956d4c58aa5. Report an issue: GitHub.