AlexsJones/llmfit · error · FileNotFoundError

No compiled binary found. Checked: {candidates} Run 'make

Error message

No compiled binary found. Checked:
  {candidates}
Run 'make build' first.

What it means

For editable installs (uv sync, uv run, pip install -e), _find_local_binary() checks only <repo>/target/debug/<binary> and <repo>/target/release/<binary>. This FileNotFoundError lists both checked paths and fires when neither exists - the Rust crate has not been compiled yet, so there is no binary to wire into the environment.

Source

Thrown at llmfit-python/hatch_build.py:133

            )
        return bin_path

    @staticmethod
    def _find_local_binary(llmfit_root: Path) -> Path:
        """Find the locally compiled binary in default Cargo output locations.

        Checks ``target/debug/`` first (from ``make build``), then
        ``target/release/`` (from ``make release``).
        """
        binary_name = "llmfit.exe" if sys.platform == "win32" else "llmfit"
        candidates = [
            llmfit_root / "target" / "debug" / binary_name,
            llmfit_root / "target" / "release" / binary_name,
        ]
        for candidate in candidates:
            if candidate.is_file():
                return candidate
        raise FileNotFoundError(
            "No compiled binary found. Checked:\n"
            + "\n".join(f"  {c}" for c in candidates)
            + "\nRun 'make build' first.",
        )

    @staticmethod
    def _check_binary_version(bin_path: Path, expected_version: str) -> None:
        """Run the binary with ``--version`` and verify it matches the expected version.

        Raises ``RuntimeError`` on a mismatch — this indicates a stale build.
        """
        result = subprocess.run(
            [str(bin_path), "--version"],
            capture_output=True,
            check=True,
            text=True,
            timeout=5,
        )

View on GitHub (pinned to a9ac7ed91c)

Solutions

Run `make build` (or `cargo build`) at the repository root, then repeat `uv sync`.
Confirm `target/debug/llmfit` or `target/release/llmfit` now exists next to the Cargo workspace root.
Unset CARGO_TARGET_DIR (or point it at <repo>/target) so cargo uses the location the hook scans.
Rebuild after any `cargo clean` / `make clean` before invoking Python tooling.

Example fix

# before
git clone <repo> && cd llmfit
uv sync  # FileNotFoundError: No compiled binary found ... Run 'make build' first.

# after
git clone <repo> && cd llmfit
make build   # cargo build -> target/debug/llmfit
uv sync

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

from pathlib import Path

repo = Path.cwd()  # repository root when running uv sync
name = 'llmfit.exe' if __import__('sys').platform == 'win32' else 'llmfit'
if not any((repo / 'target' / profile / name).is_file() for profile in ('debug', 'release')):
    raise SystemExit('Run `make build` (cargo build) before `uv sync`')

Prevention

Script onboarding as `make build && uv sync` so the cargo step always precedes the Python step.
Do not set CARGO_TARGET_DIR to a custom location; the hook only scans <repo>/target/.
Re-run make build after cargo clean or fresh clones.
Cache target/ in CI so cleanups do not force surprise rebuild failures.

When it happens

Trigger: Fresh clone followed immediately by `uv sync` or `uv run --project llmfit-python pytest` without `cargo build`; running after `cargo clean` or `make clean`; building the workspace with a different target-dir or CARGO_TARGET_DIR env var so target/ is empty; building from a directory where the repo root (Path(self.root).parent) is not the Cargo workspace root.

Common situations: Onboarding: the README build order (make build first, then Python tooling) was skipped; CI cache of target/ invalidated; CARGO_TARGET_DIR set globally by a developer tool (e.g. sccache) so binaries land elsewhere.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of AlexsJones/llmfit@a9ac7ed91c (2026-08-16). Data as JSON: /api/errors/49a7675629848b0b. Report an issue: GitHub.