Bitbucket Server, reviewers from CODEOWNERS by email error is not an user

[gimiki]

How are you running Renovate?

Self-hosted Renovate

If you're self-hosting Renovate, tell us which platform (GitHub, GitLab, etc) and which version of Renovate.

Bitbucket v8.19.20, Renovate 41.163.1

Please tell us more about your question or problem

When using Bitbucket Server and reviewers from CODEOWNERS, if a code owner is specified with email address, renovate gets the user slug by email (rif.

renovate/lib/modules/platform/bitbucket-server/index.ts

Line 699 in 335ff18

const slugs = await getUserSlugsByEmail(entry);

)

Then the PR is updated the reviewers[].user.name = userSlug.
This seems not correct.

Logs attached.
I tried locally with curl and replicated the problem.

Error like with renovate:

export TOKEN=<token>
export EMAIL=<email>
export BITBUCKET_HOST=<bitbucket host>
export PROJECT=<project>
export REPO=<repo>
export PR=<pr_number>

# Get the slug of the user
export USER=$(curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" "https://$BITBUCKET_HOST/rest/api/1.0/users?export SLUG=$(curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" https://$BITBUCKET_HOST/rest/api/1.0/users?filter=$EMAIL | jq -r '.values[0].slug')

# Get required parameters from PR
export VERSION=$(curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" -v https://$BITBUCKET_HOST/rest/api/1.0/projects/$PROJECT/repos/$REPO/pull-requests/$PR | jq -r '.version')
export TITLE=$(curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" -v https://$BITBUCKET_HOST/rest/api/1.0/projects/$PROJECT/repos/$REPO/pull-requests/$PR | jq -r '.title')

# Update PR
curl -X PUT -H "Content-Type: application/json" -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" -v https://$BITBUCKET_HOST/rest/api/1.0/projects/$PROJECT/repos/$REPO/pull-requests/$PR -d "{\"version\":$VERSION,\"title\":\"$TITLE\",\"reviewers\":[{\"user\":{\"name\":\"$USER\"}}]}"

And I'll get the following HTTP 409 error:

{"errors":[{"context":"reviewers","message":"Errors encountered while adding some reviewers to this pull request.","exceptionName":"com.atlassian.bitbucket.pull.InvalidPullRequestReviewersException","reviewerErrors":[{"context":"<slug>","message":"<slug> is not a user.","exceptionName":null}],"validReviewers":[]}]}

Works if name is used instead of slug:

# Get the name of the user
export USER=$(curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" "https://$BITBUCKET_HOST/rest/api/1.0/users?export SLUG=$(curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" https://$BITBUCKET_HOST/rest/api/1.0/users?filter=$EMAIL | jq -r '.values[0].slug')

# Update PR
curl -X PUT -H "Content-Type: application/json" -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" -v https://$BITBUCKET_HOST/rest/api/1.0/projects/$PROJECT/repos/$REPO/pull-requests/$PR -d "{\"version\":$VERSION,\"title\":\"$TITLE\",\"reviewers\":[{\"user\":{\"name\":\"$USER\"}}]}"

Logs (if relevant)

Logs

DEBUG: Adding reviewers '<user>@<email>.com' to #16 (repository=<project>/<repo>, baseBranch=develop, branch=feature/renovate/pin-dependencies)
DEBUG: getPr(16) (repository=<project>/<repo>, baseBranch=develop, branch=feature/renovate/pin-dependencies)
DEBUG: http cache: saving https://<bitbucket server>/rest/api/1.0/projects/<project>/repos/<repo>/pull-requests/16 (etag=undefined, lastModified=undefined) (repository=<project>/<repo>, baseBranch=develop, branch=feature/renovate/pin-dependencies)
DEBUG: PUT https://<bitbucket server>/rest/api/1.0/projects/<project>/repos/<repo>/pull-requests/16 = (code=ERR_NON_2XX_3XX_RESPONSE, statusCode=409 retryCount=0, duration=31) (repository=TELLYA_ARIA/aria-tellya-next-console, baseBranch=develop, branch=feature/renovate/pin-dependencies)
 WARN: Failed to add reviewers (repository=<project>/<repo>, baseBranch=develop, branch=feature/renovate/pin-dependencies)
       "err": {
         "name": "HTTPError",
         "code": "ERR_NON_2XX_3XX_RESPONSE",
         "timings": {
           "start": 1761831693890,
           "socket": 1761831693890,
           "lookup": 1761831693890,
           "connect": 1761831693890,
           "upload": 1761831693890,
           "response": 1761831693920,
           "end": 176<project><1repo<user></user>
           "phases": {
             "wait": 0,
             "dns": 0,
             "tcp": 0,
             "request": 0,
             "firstByte": 30,
             "download": 1,
             "total": 31
           }
         },
         "message": "Response code 409 (Conflict)",
         "stack": "HTTPError: Response code 409 (Conflict)\n    at Request.<anonymous> (/usr/local/renovate/node_modules/.pnpm/got@11.8.6/node_modules/got/dist/source/as-promise/index.js:118:42)\n    at processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:105:5)",
         "options": {
           "headers": {
             "user-agent": "RenovateBot/41.163.1 (https://github.com/renovatebot/renovate)",
             "accept": "application/json",
             "x-atlassian-token": "no-check",
             "authorization": "***********",
             "content-type": "application/json",
             "content-length": "139",
             "accept-encoding": "gzip, deflate, br"
           },
           "url": "https://<bitbucket_server>/rest/api/1.0/projects/<project>/repos/<repo>/pull-requests/16",
           "hostType": "bitbucket-server",
           "username": "",
           "password": "",
           "method": "PUT",
           "http2": false
         },
         "response": {
           "statusCode": 409,
           "statusMessage": "Conflict",
           "body": {
             "errors": [
               {
                 "context": "reviewers",
                 "message": "Errors encountered while adding some reviewers to this pull request.",
                 "exceptionName": "com.atlassian.bitbucket.pull.InvalidPullRequestReviewersException",
                 "reviewerErrors": [
                   {
                     "context": "<user>_<email>.com",
                     "message": "<user>_<email>.com is not a user.",
                     "exceptionName": null
                   }
                 ],
                 "validReviewers": []
               }
             ]
           },
           "headers": {
             "cache-control": "private,no-cache, no-transform",
             "x-arequestid": "*H8LAYBx821x958396x0",
             "x-auser<project><irepo<user></user>
             "x-ausername": "jenkins",
             "vary": "x-ausername,x-auserid,cookie,accept-encoding",
             "x-content-type-options": "nosniff",
             "content-encoding": "gzip",
             "content-type": "application/json;charset=UTF-8",
             "date": "Thu, 30 Oct 2025 13:41:33 GMT",
             "via": "1.1 google",
             "transfer-encoding": "chunked"
           },
           "httpVersion": "1.1",
           "retryCount": 0
         }
       },
       "reviewers": ["<user>_<email>.com"],
       "prNo": 16
DEBUG: getPr(16) (repository=<project>/<repo>, baseBranch=develop, branch=feature/renovate/pin-dependencies)
DEBUG: getPr(16) (repository=<project>/<repo>, baseBranch=develop, branch=feature/renovate/pin-dependencies)

[Churro]

If I understand it correctly, this issue only occurs when name != slug. From what I've seen the values are usually identical, even when identity federation is used. Do you probably know what setting causes them to be different?

The atlassian-python-api SDK also uses name to add default reviewers (see here), so perhaps you're right that using user slug instead of name is incorrect...

[gimiki]

In our Bitbucket Server, the 'name' is mapped to XXXYYY@domain.com from the identity provider. The slug appears to be lowercase and uses substitutions (like '_' replacing '@'): xxxyyy_domain.com.

I don't know if this doc applies to my version of Bitbucket, but it describes the slug as a "URL-friendly variant of the name".
As far as I know, it's only used for the URL of an user profile: https://<bitbucket>/users/xxxyyy_domain.com

[gimiki]

Is it possible to convert this discussion into an issue? Thanks.

[RahulGautamSingh]

I am thinking if we should totally move to using names or only use names when we get the error you encountered ie. slug is not an user

Will totally using name instead of slug have any side-effects?

[santi-ordax]

We’re having the same issue. In our Bitbucket setup, usernames are email-based, but Renovate replaces them with user slugs, which are not valid identifiers for users in the Bitbucket Server API. It appears that only the username is accepted.

This prevents us from configuring reviewers in Renovate PRs as described here:
https://docs.renovatebot.com/configuration-options/#reviewers

It looks like the replacement of emails/usernames with slugs was introduced in this PR:
#37199

I think this should be tracked as an issue. For Bitbucket Server, emails should be resolved to usernames, not slugs, since usernames are the only way the Bitbucket Server API can reliably identify a user.

[garramja]

I have the same issue with Atlassian Bitbucket v9.4.15 and Renovate/43.3.4
Our Identity provider (Entra ID) is the provisioner for bitbucket users so the user into bitbucket is created with company email (upn).
When configure reviewers into our renovate project configuration seems that renovate change email for user slug and bitbucket api fails.

Look the renovate debug

• Renovate creates the PR
• Renovate try addParticipants method with email techlead.reviewer@softdev.com
• Renovate execute PUT but the message error (409) says that techlead.reviewer_softdev.com is not a user. The user configured into reviewers has been changed for the slug.

DEBUG: createPr(renovate/major-mockito-monorepo, title=chore(deps): update dependency org.mockito:mockito-core to v5) (repository=CL/lib-aws-secrets, branch=renovate/major-mockito-monorepo)
 INFO: PR created (repository=CL/lib-aws-secrets, branch=renovate/major-mockito-monorepo)
       "pr": 128,
       "prTitle": "chore(deps): update dependency org.mockito:mockito-core to v5"
DEBUG: addParticipants(pr=128) (repository=CL/lib-aws-secrets, branch=renovate/major-mockito-monorepo)
DEBUG: Adding reviewers 'techlead.reviewer@softdev.com' to #128 (repository=CL/lib-aws-secrets, branch=renovate/major-mockito-monorepo)
DEBUG: getPr(128) (repository=CL/lib-aws-secrets, branch=renovate/major-mockito-monorepo)
DEBUG: http cache: saving https://bitbucket.softdev.services/rest/api/1.0/projects/CL/repos/lib-aws-secrets/pull-requests/128 (etag=undefined, lastModified=undefined) (repository=CL/lib-aws-secrets, branch=renovate/major-mockito-monorepo)
DEBUG: PUT https://bitbucket.softdev.services/rest/api/1.0/projects/CL/repos/lib-aws-secrets/pull-requests/128 = (code=ERR_NON_2XX_3XX_RESPONSE, statusCode=409 retryCount=0, duration=39) (repository=CL/lib-aws-secrets, branch=renovate/major-mockito-monorepo)
 WARN: Failed to add reviewers (repository=CL/lib-aws-secrets, branch=renovate/major-mockito-monorepo)
       "err": {
         "name": "HTTPError",
         "code": "ERR_NON_2XX_3XX_RESPONSE",
         "timings": {
           "start": 1770293630933,
           "socket": 1770293630933,
           "lookup": 1770293630933,
           "connect": 1770293630933,
           "secureConnect": 1770293630933,
           "upload": 1770293630934,
           "response": 1770293630972,
           "end": 1770293630972,
           "phases": {
             "wait": 0,
             "dns": 0,
             "tcp": 0,
             "tls": 0,
             "request": 1,
             "firstByte": 38,
             "download": 0,
             "total": 39
           }
         },
         "message": "Response code 409 (Conflict)",
         "stack": "HTTPError: Response code 409 (Conflict)\n    at Request.<anonymous> (/root/.npm/_npx/59c0475bfd22776c/node_modules/got/dist/source/as-promise/index.js:118:42)\n    at processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:103:5)",
         "options": {
           "headers": {
             "user-agent": "Renovate/43.3.4 (https://github.com/renovatebot/renovate)",
             "accept": "application/json",
             "x-atlassian-token": "no-check",
             "authorization": "***********",
             "content-type": "application/json",
             "content-length": "144",
             "accept-encoding": "gzip, deflate, br"
           },
           "url": "https://bitbucket.softdev.services/rest/api/1.0/projects/CL/repos/lib-aws-secrets/pull-requests/128",
           "hostType": "bitbucket-server",
           "username": "",
           "password": "",
           "method": "PUT",
           "http2": false
         },
         "response": {
           "statusCode": 409,
           "statusMessage": "Conflict",
           "body": {
             "errors": [
               {
                 "context": "reviewers",
                 "message": "Errors encountered while adding some reviewers to this pull request.",
                 "exceptionName": "com.atlassian.bitbucket.pull.InvalidPullRequestReviewersException",
                 "reviewerErrors": [
                   {
                     "context": "techlead.reviewer_softdev.com",
                     "message": "techlead.reviewer_softdev.com is not a user."
                   }
                 ],
                 "validReviewers": []
               }
             ]
           },
           "headers": {
             "date": "Thu, 05 Feb 2026 12:13:50 GMT",
             "content-type": "application/json;charset=UTF-8",
             "content-length": "331",
             "connection": "keep-alive",
             "x-arequestid": "*1GXA7YJx733x758389x1",
             "x-auserid": "65048",
             "x-ausername": "%40renovate-bot",
             "cache-control": "no-cache, no-transform",
             "vary": "X-AUSERNAME, X-AUSERID, Cookie",
             "x-content-type-options": "nosniff"
           },
           "httpVersion": "1.1",
           "retryCount": 0
         }
       },
       "reviewers": ["techlead.reviewer_softdev.com"],
       "prNo": 128
DEBUG: repository problems (repository=CL/lib-aws-secrets)
       "repoProblems": ["⚠️ WARN: Failed to add reviewers"]

By the way, if PUT is performed by curl to BB API with the email into body works perfectly

curl --location --request PUT 'https://bitbucket.softdev.services/rest/api/1.0/projects/CL/repos/lib-aws-secrets/pull-requests/128' \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--header 'Authorization: ••••••' \
--data '{
    "version": 7,
    "reviewers": [
      {
        "user": {
          "name": "techlead.reviewer@softdev.com"
        }
      }
    ]
}'

❓Could this discussion turn into an issue?

[Churro]

Fix PR -> #41002

[santi-ordax]

Just upgraded to the latest version, and reviewers with email addresses as names are now being added correctly.

Thank you so much for your help!