What causes "API video generation did not create file: {save_path}" in ATH-MaaS/Pixelle-Video?

Check save_path directory exists and is writable (os.makedirs, permissions)

ATH-MaaS/Pixelle-Video · error · RuntimeError

API video generation did not create file: {save_path}

Error message

API video generation did not create file: {save_path}

What it means

After the provider call (including a content-inspection retry with a neutralized prompt), _generate_video checks that the expected output file exists at save_path. If the provider reported success (or the failure path swallowed the error) but no file was written to disk, this RuntimeError is raised.

Source

Thrown at pixelle_video/services/api_media.py:578

                    save_path=save_path,
                    model=model,
                    duration=safe_duration,
                    video_ratio=ratio,
                    **video_options,
                )
                break
            except Exception as exc:
                if attempt >= max_safety_retries or not self._is_content_inspection_error(exc):
                    raise

                logger.warning(
                    "API video generation failed content inspection; "
                    f"neutralizing prompt and retrying once. provider={provider}, model={model}, error={exc}"
                )
                prompt_to_use = await self._neutralize_video_prompt(prompt_to_use)

        if not os.path.exists(save_path):
            raise RuntimeError(f"API video generation did not create file: {save_path}")

        return MediaResult(media_type="video", url=save_path, duration=safe_duration)

    def _is_content_inspection_error(self, exc: Exception) -> bool:
        """Return True when a provider rejects input because of content inspection."""
        message = str(exc).lower()
        return any(
            marker in message
            for marker in (
                "datainspectionfailed",
                "inappropriate content",
                "green net check failed",
                "content inspection",
                "safety inspection",
                "risk control",
            )
        )

View on GitHub (pinned to 848b054e4f)

Solutions

Check save_path directory exists and is writable (os.makedirs, permissions)
Log the provider response to confirm a video URL/result was actually returned
Retry the generation; if content inspection is the cause, rephrase the prompt
Verify provider SDK version still writes the file in the expected location

Example fix

// before
result = await gen(prompt=p, output_path=None)
// after
os.makedirs("outputs/videos", exist_ok=True)
result = await gen(prompt=p, output_path="outputs/videos/clip.mp4")

Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

save_path = output_path or default_path
os.makedirs(os.path.dirname(save_path), exist_ok=True)
if not os.access(os.path.dirname(save_path), os.W_OK):
    raise PermissionError(f"cannot write to {save_path}")

Try / catch

try:
    result = await gen(prompt=p)
except RuntimeError as e:
    if "did not create file" in str(e):
        logging.error("video missing at %s; provider response logged", e)
        result = await retry_gen(prompt=p)

Prevention

Pre-create and permission-check the output directory
Always pass an explicit output_path
Log the raw provider response for post-mortem

When it happens

Trigger: Provider returns 200/no exception but fails to persist the video; the download/save step silently skips writing; save_path points to an unwritable or wrong directory; async task completed with no usable output.

Common situations: Disk full or permissions issue in save_dir; provider API change where the result URL is empty; network drop during final download; content-policy rejection that does not surface as an exception.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of ATH-MaaS/Pixelle-Video@848b054e4f (2026-08-30). Data as JSON: /api/errors/992ad376ed7d35ad. Report an issue: GitHub.