HumanSignal/label-studio · error · RuntimeError

{path} {what} already exists. Use "--force" option to recrea

Error message

{path} {what} already exists. Use "--force" option to recreate it.

What it means

already_exists_error is a helper that raises RuntimeError when a filesystem resource (project dir, storage dir) the CLI/setup tries to create already exists on disk. Label Studio refuses to clobber existing directories unless explicitly told with --force.

Source

Thrown at label_studio/io_storages/filesystem.py:82

        self.data.pop(int(key), None)
        self._save()

    def remove_all(self, ids=None):
        if ids is None:
            self.data = {}
        else:
            [self.data.pop(i, None) for i in ids]
        self._save()

    def empty(self):
        return len(self.data) == 0

    def sync(self):
        pass


def already_exists_error(what, path):
    raise RuntimeError(
        '{path} {what} already exists. Use "--force" option to recreate it.'.format(path=path, what=what)
    )


class DirJSONsStorage(BaseStorage):
    description = 'Directory with JSON task files'

    def __init__(self, **kwargs):
        super(DirJSONsStorage, self).__init__(**kwargs)
        os.makedirs(self.path, exist_ok=True)
        self.cache = {}

    @property
    def readable_path(self):
        return self.path

    def get(self, id):
        if id in self.cache:

View on GitHub (pinned to 0b49e9b539)

Solutions

1. Pass the --force option to recreate/overwrite the existing path if its contents can be discarded
2. Use a new unique path/name for the new storage or project
3. Manually move/rename the existing directory before re-running
4. If the directory is stale from a failed prior run, delete it first

Example fix

# before
label-studio init ./myproject  # second run: already exists
# after
label-studio init ./myproject --force

import os
def path_is_free(path):
    return not os.path.exists(path)

def is_new_dir(path):
    import os
    return os.path.isdir(path) is False

try:
    create_storage(path)
except RuntimeError as e:
    if 'already exists' in str(e) and '--force' not in sys.argv:
        logger.error('%s — rerun with --force or pick a new path', e)

When it happens

Trigger: Running the filesystem storage creation/setup command a second time against the same path, or a prior run partially created the directory, so the target {path} already exists on disk.

Common situations: Re-running a scripted initialization after a first run succeeded; switching data directories but reusing an old project name; Docker volume remounts leaving stale directories.

Related errors

• Absolute local path "{self.path}" does not exist
• Failed to read file {path}: {str(e)}
• token_exists
• Provide --project <id> or --organization <id>
• Project {project_id} not found

AI-assisted analysis of HumanSignal/label-studio@0b49e9b539 (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/86cfef4b41715e5d. Report an issue: GitHub.