BurntSushi/ripgrep · error

current working directory `{}` is not absolute

Error message

current working directory `{}` is not absolute

What it means

Error "current working directory `{}` is not absolute" thrown in BurntSushi/ripgrep.

Source

Thrown at crates/index/src/index.rs:127

}

impl IndexDiscovery {
    pub fn new() -> IndexDiscovery {
        IndexDiscovery {
            builder: IndexBuilder::new(),
            cwd: None,
            env_name: "RIPGREP_INDEX_PATH".into(),
            dir_name: ".ripgrep".into(),
        }
    }

    pub fn discover(&self) -> anyhow::Result<Option<Index>> {
        let cwd = match self.cwd.clone() {
            Some(cwd) => cwd,
            None => std::env::current_dir()
                .context("failed to get current working directory")?,
        };
        anyhow::ensure!(
            cwd.is_absolute(),
            "current working directory `{}` is not absolute",
            cwd.display()
        );
        if let Some(env_path) = std::env::var_os(&self.env_name) {
            if !env_path.is_empty() {
                return Ok(Some(self.builder.build(env_path)?));
            }
        }
        for ancestor in cwd.ancestors() {
            let path = ancestor.join(&self.dir_name);
            // I guess this is subject to TOCTOU problems, but the underlying
            // embedded database should handle synchronization problems for us.
            if self.builder.create || Index::exists(&path) {
                return Ok(Some(self.builder.build(&path)?));
            }
        }
        Ok(None)

View on GitHub (pinned to 3fce3b5bb0)

Solutions

1. Run the command from an absolute working directory path
2. Pass an absolute path instead of relying on a relative CWD

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at crates/index/src/index.rs:127 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of BurntSushi/ripgrep@3fce3b5bb0 (2026-08-06). Data as JSON: /data/errors/9a7659a18b18dc00.json. Report an issue: GitHub.