BoundaryML/baml · error

No optimization runs found. Run 'baml-cli optimize' first. E

Error message

No optimization runs found. Run 'baml-cli optimize' first.
Expected directory: {}

What it means

In run_view_mode, when no --run-dir is given, the command derives the optimize base directory (.baml_optimize next to the parsed baml_src path or ./.baml_optimize) and expects it to exist. If the base directory is missing, no optimization was ever run (or it ran elsewhere), so the viewer bails with this message including the expected path.

Source

Thrown at engine/baml-runtime/src/cli/optimize.rs:721

    /// Run the TUI viewer mode
    fn run_view_mode(&self) -> Result<OptimizeRunResult> {
        let run_dir = if let Some(ref dir) = self.run_dir {
            // Use explicitly specified run directory
            if !dir.exists() {
                anyhow::bail!("Specified run directory does not exist: {}", dir.display());
            }
            dir.clone()
        } else {
            // Find the most recent run in .baml_optimize/
            let from = BamlRuntime::parse_baml_src_path(&self.from)?;
            let optimize_base_dir = from
                .parent()
                .map(|p| p.join(".baml_optimize"))
                .unwrap_or_else(|| PathBuf::from(".baml_optimize"));

            if !optimize_base_dir.exists() {
                anyhow::bail!(
                    "No optimization runs found. Run 'baml-cli optimize' first.\n\
                     Expected directory: {}",
                    optimize_base_dir.display()
                );
            }

            // Find the most recent run_* directory
            let mut runs: Vec<_> = std::fs::read_dir(&optimize_base_dir)?
                .filter_map(|entry| {
                    let entry = entry.ok()?;
                    let path = entry.path();
                    if path.is_dir() {
                        let name = path.file_name()?.to_string_lossy().to_string();
                        if name.starts_with("run_") {
                            return Some(path);
                        }
                    }
                    None

View on GitHub (pinned to bd85ce9dee)

Solutions

1. Run `baml-cli optimize` once to create .baml_optimize with run data.
2. Verify the expected directory printed in the error; if optimizing a different project, pass matching --from.
3. Check you're in the correct project root (relative .baml_optimize resolution).
4. Pass --run-dir explicitly if your runs live in a custom location.

Example fix

// before
baml-cli optimize --view  // no runs yet
// after
baml-cli optimize --from baml_src   # creates runs
baml-cli optimize --view --from baml_src

# guard before viewing without --run-dir
[ -d .baml_optimize ] || { echo 'run baml-cli optimize first'; exit 1; }

catch (e) {
  if (String(e.message).includes('No optimization runs found')) {
    // trigger a fresh optimize run, then re-run view
  }
}

When it happens

Trigger: Running `baml-cli optimize --view` without --run-dir when the computed .baml_optimize directory does not exist.

Common situations: Running --view before ever running an optimization, running the viewer from a different project/checkout, or .baml_optimize removed by clean tooling.

Understand the failure class

Background: 'Could not be found', 'does not exist', 'not found in database': the resource-not-found family when an ID, slug, key, or URI lookup comes back empty — this error's family across 20 libraries.

Related errors

• Specified run directory does not exist: {}
• failed to clean segmented profiler data at {}
• cannot determine directory of current executable
• `{}` doesn't look like it belongs to a BAML project — no `ba
• VSIX file was not created at expected location

AI-assisted analysis of BoundaryML/baml@bd85ce9dee (2026-09-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/ec6d84f26163933c. Report an issue: GitHub.