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WP_Error: Invalid term ID

WP_Error Invalid term ID appears when WordPress tries to work with a term whose identifier is missing or malformed. The error originates from core functions that expect a numeric term_id but receive 0, false, or a non‑existent value.

Root causes include a corrupted wp_terms auto_increment, mismatched taxonomy slugs, boolean values passed as IDs, and orphaned rows in term tables. When the system receives an invalid ID it returns a WP_Error object with the code invalid_term_id.

Symptoms

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Admin UI error
You see “Invalid term ID” when adding or editing categories, tags, or custom taxonomy terms.
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Front‑end 404
Archive pages that rely on the broken taxonomy return a 404 or blank page.
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PHP warning
Error log contains PHP Warning about reading property term_id on bool.

Common Causes

Corrupted auto‑increment
wp_terms table auto_increment is set to 0 or a value that already exists, causing insertion of term ID 0.
Wrong taxonomy slug
Code calls get_term_by or get_the_terms with a slug that does not match the registered taxonomy.
Boolean term ID
A function receives false instead of an integer and later treats it as a term ID.
Orphaned rows
Rows in wp_term_taxonomy or wp_term_relationships reference non‑existent term IDs.
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