Graphify-Labs/graphify · error · SystemExit

ERROR: Graph is empty - extraction produced no nodes.

Error message

ERROR: Graph is empty - extraction produced no nodes.

What it means

Guard clause (#1392) in the graphify build pipeline: build_from_json() ran against graphify-out/.graphify_extract.json and produced a graph with zero nodes, so the script prints this ERROR and raises SystemExit(1) before any artifact is written. Existing graph.json / report / sidecar are left untouched.

Source

Thrown at tools/skillgen/expected/graphify__skill-kilo.md:419

from graphify.build import build_from_json
from graphify.cluster import cluster, score_all
from graphify.analyze import god_nodes, surprising_connections, suggest_questions
from graphify.report import generate
from graphify.export import to_json
from pathlib import Path

extraction = json.loads(Path('graphify-out/.graphify_extract.json').read_text(encoding=\"utf-8\"))
detection  = json.loads(Path('graphify-out/.graphify_detect.json').read_text(encoding=\"utf-8\"))

# root= mirrors the --update runbook (#1361): relativize source_file to the same
# base so the full build and incremental --update never drift apart on re-extract.
G = build_from_json(extraction, root='INPUT_PATH', directed=IS_DIRECTED)
# Guard BEFORE any write: an empty extraction must not clobber a good graph.json /
# GRAPH_REPORT.md / analysis sidecar. Check immediately after build (#1392).
if G.number_of_nodes() == 0:
    print('ERROR: Graph is empty - extraction produced no nodes.')
    print('Possible causes: all files were skipped, binary-only corpus, or extraction failed.')
    raise SystemExit(1)
communities = cluster(G)
cohesion = score_all(G, communities)
tokens = {'input': extraction.get('input_tokens', 0), 'output': extraction.get('output_tokens', 0)}
gods = god_nodes(G)
surprises = surprising_connections(G, communities)
labels = {cid: 'Community ' + str(cid) for cid in communities}
# Placeholder questions - regenerated with real labels in Step 5
questions = suggest_questions(G, communities, labels)

# Export FIRST and honor the #479 shrink-guard: to_json returns False (writing
# nothing) when the new graph is smaller than the existing graph.json. Only write
# GRAPH_REPORT.md + the analysis sidecar when the graph was actually written, so
# they never describe a graph that graph.json doesn't contain (#1392).
wrote = to_json(G, communities, 'graphify-out/graph.json')
if not wrote:
    print('ERROR: refused to shrink graphify-out/graph.json (existing graph has more nodes; #479).')
    print('If this shrink is intentional (you deleted files), re-run a full build with --force.')
    raise SystemExit(1)

View on GitHub (pinned to 7fe58b0b0f)

Solutions

  1. Check .graphify_extract.json content — no nodes means the extraction step failed, fix that first.
  2. Confirm INPUT_PATH matches the extraction root so relativization keeps nodes.
  3. Audit skip/ignore rules for files that should have been extracted.
  4. Re-run extraction then the build; the guard preserved prior outputs.
Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

import json
from pathlib import Path

extraction = json.loads(Path('graphify-out/.graphify_extract.json').read_text(encoding='utf-8'))
if not any(f.get('nodes') for f in extraction.get('files', [])):
    raise SystemExit('extract has no nodes - re-run extraction with a valid input path')

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: Zero-node output of build_from_json(extraction, root='INPUT_PATH', directed=IS_DIRECTED): extract file has no nodes (all files skipped, binary-only corpus, extraction failure) or root relativization dropped every source_file.

Common situations: Failed extraction pass writing an empty file; wrong or empty input directory; over-broad ignore rules; INPUT_PATH differing from the extraction-time root.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of Graphify-Labs/graphify@7fe58b0b0f (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/1245c42a5454f85e. Report an issue: GitHub.