Kong/insomnia · error

yarn-standalone.js is a symlink, refusing to use it.

Error message

yarn-standalone.js is a symlink, refusing to use it.

What it means

Error "yarn-standalone.js is a symlink, refusing to use it." thrown in Kong/insomnia.

Source

Thrown at packages/insomnia/src/main/install-plugin.ts:342

  // Validate app path is safe
  if (!resolvedAppPath.startsWith(SAFE_APP_BASE)) {
    throw new Error('Unsafe app path detected.');
  }

  const yarnPath = isDevelopment()
    ? path.resolve(resolvedAppPath, './bin/yarn-standalone.js')
    : path.resolve(resolvedAppPath, '../bin/yarn-standalone.js');

  if (!yarnPath.startsWith(SAFE_APP_BASE)) {
    throw new Error('Unsafe yarn path detected.');
  }

  // Ensure file exists and is not a symlink
  try {
    const stats = await lstat(yarnPath);

    if (stats.isSymbolicLink()) {
      throw new Error('yarn-standalone.js is a symlink, refusing to use it.');
    }
  } catch (err: any) {
    if (err.code === 'ENOENT') {
      throw new Error(`yarn-standalone.js not found at expected location: ${yarnPath}`);
    }
    throw err;
  }

  return yarnPath;
}

/**
 * Checks if the Yarn stderr output only contains deprecation warnings.
 */
export function containsOnlyDeprecationWarnings(output: string): boolean {
  const MAX_LINES = 20;
  const MAX_LINE_LENGTH = 300;

View on GitHub (pinned to d9bb2b0142)

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at packages/insomnia/src/main/install-plugin.ts:342 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of Kong/insomnia@d9bb2b0142 (2026-08-26). Data as JSON: /api/errors/538be2bf17074dce. Report an issue: GitHub.