Graphify-Labs/graphify · error · RuntimeError

Claude Code CLI not found on $PATH. Install from https://cla

Error message

Claude Code CLI not found on $PATH. Install from https://claude.ai/code and run `claude` once to authenticate.

What it means

Raised on non-Windows platforms (and on Windows when neither `claude.cmd` nor plain `claude` resolves) when `shutil.which("claude")` returns None — the Claude Code CLI executable is not on $PATH. The `claude-cli` backend shells out to this binary, so it must be installed and locatable before extraction can run. On Windows the code first prefers `claude.cmd` over `claude.ps1` because CreateProcess cannot execute .ps1 files (issue #1072).

Source

Thrown at graphify/llm.py:1492

    is allowlisted with `--add-dir` so the read is permitted.
    """
    import platform
    import shutil
    import subprocess

    # On Windows, npm installs `claude` as both `claude.ps1` and `claude.cmd`
    # alongside each other. When PATHEXT lists `.PS1` before `.CMD`,
    # `shutil.which("claude")` returns `claude.ps1`, which `CreateProcess`
    # cannot execute directly — it raises `[WinError 2] The system cannot
    # find the file specified`. `claude.cmd` IS executable by CreateProcess,
    # so prefer it explicitly on Windows. See issue #1072.
    claude_cmd = "claude"
    if platform.system() == "Windows":
        cmd_path = shutil.which("claude.cmd")
        if cmd_path:
            claude_cmd = cmd_path
        elif shutil.which("claude") is None:
            raise RuntimeError(
                "Claude Code CLI not found on $PATH. Install from "
                "https://claude.ai/code and run `claude` once to authenticate."
            )
    elif shutil.which("claude") is None:
        raise RuntimeError(
            "Claude Code CLI not found on $PATH. Install from "
            "https://claude.ai/code and run `claude` once to authenticate."
        )

    # Deliver the extraction instructions in the USER turn rather than via
    # --system-prompt. Newer Claude Code CLIs (>= ~2.1) do not treat a
    # --system-prompt as the sole authority: they still layer in the local
    # coding-agent context (CLAUDE.md/AGENTS.md in cwd, skills, MCP) and, when
    # the user turn is only a raw file dump with no request, reply
    # conversationally ("I see the file, but there's no actual request
    # attached — what would you like me to do with it?"). That prose parses to
    # zero nodes/edges, so _response_is_hollow flags it as truncation and the
    # adaptive-retry path bisects the chunk indefinitely, never converging and

View on GitHub (pinned to 7fe58b0b0f)

Solutions

1. Install Claude Code CLI from https://claude.ai/code and run `claude` once interactively to authenticate.
2. Ensure the install location is on $PATH for the exact process invoking graphify: `which claude` (or `where claude` on Windows) must succeed; for npm installs add the npm global bin dir.
3. In containers/services, set PATH explicitly or symlink the binary into a standard directory like /usr/local/bin.
4. On Windows, if only claude.ps1 exists, reinstall via npm so claude.cmd is generated, since .ps1 cannot be spawned by CreateProcess.

Example fix

# before (claude installed but not on service PATH)
ENV PATH=/app/bin

# after
ENV PATH=/app/bin:/usr/local/bin   # npm i -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code installs into /usr/local/bin

import shutil

if shutil.which("claude") is None:
    raise SystemExit("Claude Code CLI missing — install from https://claude.ai/code and re-run")

When it happens

Trigger: Calling `extract_files_direct(..., backend="claude-cli")` on Linux/macOS where `shutil.which("claude")` is None; or on Windows where both `claude.cmd` and `claude` are absent.

Common situations: Claude Code CLI never installed; installed via npm but npm's global bin directory is not on $PATH for the shell/process running graphify; running graphify from a service/container/cron environment with a minimal PATH; Windows npm stub issue (#1072).

Understand the failure class

• Authentication and authorization failures — expired tokens, bad credentials, and missing scopes.

Related errors

• claude -p produced unparseable JSON envelope: {exc}; first 5
• claude -p returned a JSON array with no result object; first
• claude -p exited {proc.returncode}: {detail[:500]}
• Claude Code CLI not found on $PATH
• graph not found: {source_path}

AI-assisted analysis of Graphify-Labs/graphify@7fe58b0b0f (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/c289d75b9fd2a91f. Report an issue: GitHub.