DIYgod/RSSHub · error · Error

Could not find component for ${group}:${artifact}: metadata

Error message

Could not find component for ${group}:${artifact}: metadata not found

What it means

This error is thrown when the Maven Central metadata endpoint returns HTTP 404 for the constructed group/artifact path. It means the component does not exist in the repository at all — the directory structure was never created because the group:artifact coordinates are unknown to Maven Central.

Source

Thrown at lib/routes/maven/central.ts:75

    const artifact = ctx.req.param('artifact');
    const limit = ctx.req.query('limit') ? Number(ctx.req.query('limit')) : 15;

    // (org.springframework, spring-core) -> org/springframework/spring-core
    const identifier = `${group.replaceAll('.', '/')}/${artifact}`;

    try {
        const metadataUrl = `https://repo1.maven.org/maven2/${identifier}/maven-metadata.xml`;
        const metadataResponse = await ofetch(metadataUrl);

        const $meta = load(metadataResponse, { xmlMode: true });
        const latestVersion = $meta('metadata > versioning > latest').text();

        if (!latestVersion) {
            throw new Error(`Not a valid component for ${group}:${artifact}: versions not found`);
        }
    } catch (error: any) {
        if (error?.response?.status === 404) {
            throw new Error(`Could not find component for ${group}:${artifact}: metadata not found`, { cause: error });
        }
        throw error;
    }

    const response = await ofetch(`https://repo1.maven.org/maven2/${identifier}/`);
    const $ = load(response);

    const items = $('pre#contents a')
        .toArray()
        .filter((element) => {
            const href = $(element).attr('href') ?? '';
            return href.endsWith('/') && href !== '../';
        })
        .map((element) => {
            const href = $(element).attr('href') ?? '';
            const version = href.replace('/', '');
            const versionUrl = `https://central.sonatype.com/artifact/${group}/${artifact}/${version}`;

View on GitHub (pinned to bed535e087)

Solutions

Confirm the group:artifact coordinates on https://central.sonatype.com/ or search.maven.org.
Check character case — Maven group IDs are case-sensitive.
If the artifact lives in another repo (Spring milestones, JBoss, JitPack), use that repo's feed instead of Maven Central.
Copy the dependency XML from the project's own documentation rather than typing coordinates manually.

Example fix

// before
// /maven/central/com.google.guava/guava-bad  -> 404

// after
// /maven/central/com.google.guava/guava

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

// HEAD-check the artifact existence before subscribing
const res = await fetch(`https://repo1.maven.org/maven2/${group.replaceAll('.', '/')}/${artifact}/maven-metadata.xml`, { method: 'HEAD' });
if (!res.ok) { /* artifact missing */ }

Type guard

function isMavenCoordinates(input: string): boolean {
    // group:artifact, group has >=1 dot typically, no slashes
    return /^[a-zA-Z0-9_.-]+:[a-zA-Z0-9_.-]+$/.test(input);
}

Try / catch

try {
    await ofetch(metadataUrl);
} catch (error) {
    if (error?.response?.status === 404) return { item: [], allowEmpty: true };
    throw error;
}

Prevention

Source coordinates from Maven Central's search API rather than typing them.
Use HEAD requests to pre-validate artifact existence in tooling.
Distinguish 404 (missing) from 200-empty (malformed) in error handling.

When it happens

Trigger: ofetch(maven-metadata.xml) rejects with an error whose response.status === 404. This is the canonical 'artifact not found' signal from Maven Central for any misspelled or non-existent group:artifact pair.

Common situations: Typo in group ID (e.g. 'org.springFramework' wrong case); using a package name from a different repo (Gradle plugins, JitPack, internal Nexus); artifact removed from Central; confusion between Maven group ID and Node.js package name.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of DIYgod/RSSHub@bed535e087 (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/a7fbba6ef7dc3136. Report an issue: GitHub.