There's a limit on user name length?

[ianchesal]

Part bug, part question I guess. I noticed this when playing around with the HTTP API. The following returns NOT_FOUND (more or less as expected):

> curl 'https://keybase.io/_/api/1.0/user/lookup.json?username=abcdefghijklmnop'
{
  "status": {
    "code": 205,
    "desc": "user not found abcdefghijklmnop",
    "name": "NOT_FOUND"
  },
  "guest_id": "23a720cc7d9a69257ceb8ef3a504dd08",
  "csrf_token": "lgHZIDIzYTcyMGNjN2Q5YTY5MjU3Y2ViOGVmM2E1MDRkZDA4zlNAmQTOAAFRgMDEIGL0fyMu6s7B5ccsuuxSG14EFptgTrVq6FBRbiLCE+eC"
}%

But trying a user name with 18 characters in it gives you an INPUT_ERROR:

> curl 'https://keybase.io/_/api/1.0/user/lookup.json?username=abcdefghijklmnopq'
{
  "status": {
    "code": 100,
    "desc": "missing or invalid input",
    "fields": {
      "username": "invalid name"
    },
    "name": "INPUT_ERROR"
  }
}%

That INPUT_ERROR return is consistent for all usernames >17 characters. Seems somewhat arbitrary to limit usernames but maybe there's a reason for it? In any case, mentioning this in the API docs would be a good idea. I pre-check for username length in any client that access the API could give a better error message since the one returned is somewhat ambiguous. Is it invalid because of length? The characters? Because it doesn't belong to a user who exists?

Definitely I'd consider adding this to the doc page for signup.json as it has an impact there as well.

[malgorithms]

The limit on length is intentional from the signup perspective, but I agree:

• documentation should be clearer on the signup API
• for the lookup API, a not found error would suffice and be simpler from the perspective of someone writing a client. Although...it requires changes from our perspective; as you can imagine it's easier if input validation is shared as much as possible.

[johnpaulashenfelter]

I wish I knew it was 16 chars -- didn't see it the truncation when I signed up and now I hate my username AND I can't change it.

Maybe I can get an invite and reregister?

[malgorithms]

@johnpaulashenfelter sure, delete your account and send me an email (chris@keybase io) and I'll get you a new one.

[johnpaulashenfelter]

done. thanks