What causes "No yaml found at path: ${path}" in Budibase/budibase?

Run `budi hosting init` to generate the docker-compose file at the expected path

No yaml found at path: ${path}

Error message

No yaml found at path: ${path}

What it means

getServices reads and parses a docker-compose YAML file so the Budibase CLI can inspect its services (used by hosting start/status flows). It validates the path exists before reading; if not, it throws this error. The throw happens before any YAML parsing, so a malformed file gives a different (yaml.parse) error, not this one.

Source

Thrown at packages/cli/src/hosting/utils.ts:94

  ) {
    throw "Please run the hosting --init command before any other hosting command."
  }
}

export async function handleError(func: Function) {
  try {
    await func()
  } catch (err: any) {
    if (err && err.err) {
      logErrorToFile(ERROR_FILE, err.err)
    }
    throw `Failed to start - logs written to file: ${ERROR_FILE}`
  }
}

export function getServices(path: string) {
  if (!fs.existsSync(path)) {
    throw new Error(`No yaml found at path: ${path}`)
  }
  const dockerYaml = fs.readFileSync(path, "utf8")
  const parsedYaml = yaml.parse(dockerYaml)
  return { yaml: parsedYaml, services: parsedYaml.services }
}

export function getAppService(path: string) {
  const { yaml, services } = getServices(path),
    serviceList = Object.keys(services)
  let service
  if (services["app-service"]) {
    service = services["app-service"]
  } else if (serviceList.length === 1) {
    service = services[serviceList[0]]
  }
  return { yaml, service }
}

View on GitHub (pinned to a81a902e9a)

Solutions

Run `budi hosting init` to generate the docker-compose file at the expected path
cd to the directory containing docker-compose.yaml (or pass the correct path) before running hosting commands
Restore the file if it was deleted, or point the CLI at the actual YAML path
Verify with `ls` that the file exists at the exact path in the error message

Example fix

// before
getServices("/opt/budibase/docker-compose.yaml")  // file absent
// after
import fs from "fs"
const p = "/opt/budibase/docker-compose.yaml"
if (fs.existsSync(p)) getServices(p)

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

const fs = require("fs")
function getServicesSafe(path) {
  if (!fs.existsSync(path)) {
    throw new Error(`docker-compose file missing at ${path}; run "budi hosting init"`)
  }
  return getServices(path)
}

Try / catch

try {
  const { services } = getServices(composePath)
} catch (err) {
  if ((err as Error).message.startsWith("No yaml found at path")) {
    console.error(`Compose YAML missing at ${composePath}; run hosting init first`)
  }
  throw err
}

Prevention

Initialize hosting (`budi hosting init`) before start/status commands
Resolve the compose path from a known root instead of relative cwd
Check `ls docker-compose.yaml` when running from scripts/cron with different working directories
Keep the generated compose file under version control or backup so it can be restored

When it happens

Trigger: Calling getServices (via the hosting `start`/status code paths) with a path to docker-compose.yaml that doesn't exist — e.g. hosting commands run before `budi hosting init`, from the wrong working directory, or after the compose file was deleted/renamed.

Common situations: Fresh machines where hosting was never initialized; running `budi hosting start` in a directory other than the one containing docker-compose.yaml; compose file moved to a custom location without updating the path passed to the CLI; PATH/cwd differences under systemd or CI.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of Budibase/budibase@a81a902e9a (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/f955fcc70f59ed64. Report an issue: GitHub.