Mintplex-Labs/anything-llm · error

@vscode/ripgrep not installed

Error message

@vscode/ripgrep not installed

What it means

Thrown by searchFilesWithRipgrepGlob when require("@vscode/ripgrep") fails, i.e. the package (or its rg binary wrapper) is not resolvable from server/utils/agents/aibitat/plugins/filesystem. The AnythingLLM filesystem search tools shell out to the ripgrep binary that @vscode/ripgrep downloads at install time, so a missing or broken install disables glob-based file listing. Only the require failure is reported — the error says nothing about the rg binary itself.

Solutions

1. Install it in the server workspace: cd server && npm install @vscode/ripgrep, then restart the process/container.
2. Verify resolvability: node -e "console.log(require('@vscode/ripgrep').rgPath)" from the server directory; it must print a path and that binary must exist and be executable.
3. Rebuild the Docker image without dependency pruning so the package and its downloaded rg binary survive.
4. If install is intentionally impossible, stop using the filesystem search tools (fall back to list_directory + read_file).

Example fix

# before
agent invokes search_files -> Error: @vscode/ripgrep not installed

# after
cd server && npm install @vscode/ripgrep
node -e "console.log(require('@vscode/ripgrep').rgPath)"  # sanity check
docker restart anythingllm

function ripgrepAvailable() {
  try {
    const { rgPath } = require("@vscode/ripgrep");
    return typeof rgPath === "string" && require("fs").existsSync(rgPath);
  } catch {
    return false;
  }
}
if (!ripgrepAvailable()) {
  throw new Error("File listing unavailable: install @vscode/ripgrep (cd server && npm i @vscode/ripgrep)");
}

try {
  const { files } = searchFilesWithRipgrepGlob({ searchPath, patterns });
} catch (e) {
  if (e.message === "@vscode/ripgrep not installed") {
    // degrade gracefully: fall back to list_directory + manual filtering, and surface an install hint
  } else throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: The agent calls search_files / list_files with glob patterns and @vscode/ripgrep is absent from server/node_modules (optional or pruned dependency); npm install ran with --omit=optional or --production pruning that dropped it; Docker image built without the package or with a failed postinstall download.

Common situations: Custom Docker images that slim node_modules; CI caches stripping optional deps; pnpm/yarn strict hoisting so require cannot resolve it from the plugin directory; corporate proxy blocked the postinstall binary download so the package is half-installed.

Understand the failure class

Background: "not installed", "pip install", "required for": how missing-dependency errors surface across open-source libraries — this error's family across 34 libraries.

Related errors

• ripgrep exited with code
• search pattern must not start with '-'
• Access denied - parent directory outside allowed…
• Access denied - path outside allowed directories.
• Access denied - symlink target outside allowed directories.

AI-assisted analysis of Mintplex-Labs/anything-llm@3aec848f28 (2026-08-18). Data as JSON: /api/errors/3430cba014589eb6. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at server/utils/agents/aibitat/plugins/filesystem/search-files.js:270

  },
};

/**
 * Search for files by glob pattern using ripgrep (fast file listing).
 * @returns {{ files: string[], method: string }}
 */
function searchFilesWithRipgrepGlob({
  searchPath,
  patterns,
  excludePatterns = [],
  maxResults = 100,
}) {
  const { spawnSync } = require("child_process");
  let rgPath;
  try {
    ({ rgPath } = require("@vscode/ripgrep"));
  } catch {
    throw new Error("@vscode/ripgrep not installed");
  }

  // Build ripgrep arguments for file listing
  const args = [
    "--files", // List files instead of searching content
    "--no-ignore", // Search all files, even those in .gitignore
  ];

  // Add glob patterns (ripgrep uses --glob for filtering --files output)
  for (const pattern of patterns) args.push("--glob", pattern);
  for (const exclude of excludePatterns) args.push("--glob", `!${exclude}`);

  // The "--" prevents searchPath from being parsed as an option if it starts with "-"
  // (defense against argument injection attacks)
  args.push("--", searchPath);
  const result = spawnSync(rgPath, args, {
    encoding: "utf-8",
    maxBuffer: 10 * 1024 * 1024,

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