From 2685e9ad0658d0388573c5335869b17fabace1f3 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: mrhid6 <mrhid6@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 2026 14:48:17 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] fix: Distinguish caller mistakes from backend failures in
 CreateAPIToken

createToken's catch-all mapped every unmatched error to 400, so a
database outage reported itself as a malformed client request. Wrap the
genuine validation failures with ErrTokenInvalid and let the handler
answer 500 with a fixed message for everything else.
---
 server/internal/api/tokens.go      |  5 ++++-
 server/internal/services/tokens.go | 11 +++++++----
 2 files changed, 11 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)

diff --git a/server/internal/api/tokens.go b/server/internal/api/tokens.go
index 4d76341..c7c0711 100644
--- a/server/internal/api/tokens.go
+++ b/server/internal/api/tokens.go
@@ -62,9 +62,12 @@ func createToken(c *gin.Context) {
 	case errors.Is(err, services.ErrInvalidScope):
 		c.JSON(http.StatusBadRequest, gin.H{"error": err.Error(), "code": "invalid_scope"})
 		return
-	case err != nil:
+	case errors.Is(err, services.ErrTokenInvalid):
 		c.JSON(http.StatusBadRequest, gin.H{"error": err.Error()})
 		return
+	case err != nil:
+		c.JSON(http.StatusInternalServerError, gin.H{"error": "failed to create token"})
+		return
 	}
 
 	expiry := "no expiry"
diff --git a/server/internal/services/tokens.go b/server/internal/services/tokens.go
index fcf76f4..86fc27f 100644
--- a/server/internal/services/tokens.go
+++ b/server/internal/services/tokens.go
@@ -20,6 +20,9 @@ var (
 	ErrTokenNameTaken    = errors.New("a token with that name already exists")
 	ErrTokenRoleTooHigh  = errors.New("cannot create a token above your own role")
 	ErrTokenExpiryPolicy = errors.New("expiry exceeds this instance's maximum token lifetime")
+	// ErrTokenInvalid marks a caller mistake as distinct from a backend
+	// failure, which is what lets the handler choose 400 or 500.
+	ErrTokenInvalid = errors.New("invalid token request")
 )
 
 // TokenPrefix is on every plaintext so a leaked value is recognisable in a log
@@ -58,10 +61,10 @@ func LowerRole(a, b string) string {
 func CreateAPIToken(instanceID, userID, name, role string, scopes []string, expiresInDays *int, ip string) (*models.APIToken, string, error) {
 	name = strings.TrimSpace(name)
 	if name == "" || len(name) > tokenNameMax {
-		return nil, "", fmt.Errorf("token name must be 1 to %d characters", tokenNameMax)
+		return nil, "", fmt.Errorf("%w: token name must be 1 to %d characters", ErrTokenInvalid, tokenNameMax)
 	}
 	if !models.ValidRole(role) {
-		return nil, "", fmt.Errorf("invalid role %q", role)
+		return nil, "", fmt.Errorf("%w: invalid role %q", ErrTokenInvalid, role)
 	}
 	if err := ValidScopes(scopes); err != nil {
 		return nil, "", err
@@ -69,7 +72,7 @@ func CreateAPIToken(instanceID, userID, name, role string, scopes []string, expi
 
 	owner, err := GetUserInInstance(instanceID, userID)
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, "", fmt.Errorf("user not found")
+		return nil, "", fmt.Errorf("%w: user not found", ErrTokenInvalid)
 	}
 	if roleRank(role) > roleRank(owner.Role) {
 		return nil, "", ErrTokenRoleTooHigh
@@ -85,7 +88,7 @@ func CreateAPIToken(instanceID, userID, name, role string, scopes []string, expi
 	switch {
 	case expiresInDays != nil:
 		if *expiresInDays <= 0 {
-			return nil, "", fmt.Errorf("expires_in_days must be positive")
+			return nil, "", fmt.Errorf("%w: expires_in_days must be positive", ErrTokenInvalid)
 		}
 		if maxDays > 0 && *expiresInDays > maxDays {
 			return nil, "", fmt.Errorf("%w: maximum is %d day(s)", ErrTokenExpiryPolicy, maxDays)