Yeachan-Heo/oh-my-codex · error · Error

[ask] prompts directory not found: ${promptsDir}. Run "omx s

Error message

[ask] prompts directory not found: ${promptsDir}. Run "omx setup" to install prompts.

What it means

After the role passes format validation, `omx ask` checks that the prompts directory exists (where role .md prompt files live, resolved from cwd/env). If the directory is missing — typically because prompts were never installed — this error suggests running `omx setup`, which installs the prompt files.

Source

Thrown at src/cli/ask.ts:67

    }
  } catch {
    // Ignore malformed persisted scope and fall back to user prompts.
  }

  return codexPromptsDir();
}

async function resolveAgentPromptContent(
  role: string,
  promptsDir: string,
): Promise<string> {
  const normalizedRole = role.trim().toLowerCase();
  if (!SAFE_ROLE_PATTERN.test(normalizedRole)) {
    throw new Error(`[ask] invalid --agent-prompt role "${role}". Expected lowercase role names like "executor" or "test-engineer".`);
  }

  if (!existsSync(promptsDir)) {
    throw new Error(`[ask] prompts directory not found: ${promptsDir}. Run "omx setup" to install prompts.`);
  }

  const promptPath = join(promptsDir, `${normalizedRole}.md`);
  if (!existsSync(promptPath)) {
    const files = await readdir(promptsDir).catch(() => [] as string[]);
    const availableRoles = files
      .filter((file) => file.endsWith('.md'))
      .map((file) => file.slice(0, -3))
      .sort();
    const availableSuffix = availableRoles.length > 0
      ? ` Available roles: ${availableRoles.join(', ')}.`
      : '';
    throw new Error(`[ask] --agent-prompt role "${normalizedRole}" not found in ${promptsDir}.${availableSuffix}`);
  }

  const content = (await readFile(promptPath, 'utf-8')).trim();
  if (!content) {
    throw new Error(`[ask] --agent-prompt role "${normalizedRole}" is empty: ${promptPath}`);

View on GitHub (pinned to 3ad79a8a6f)

Solutions

  1. Run `omx setup` to install the prompts directory
  2. Verify you are running from the intended project directory (prompts dir resolution depends on cwd/env)
  3. Check any env var that overrides the prompts directory location and correct it
  4. Reinstall the omx package if prompts were expected to ship with it

Example fix

# before
omx ask --agent-prompt executor "task"
# after
omx setup
omx ask --agent-prompt executor "task"
Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

import { existsSync } from 'node:fs';
if (!existsSync(promptsDir)) {
  await exec('omx setup'); // ensure prompts installed
}

Try / catch

catch (e) { if (/prompts directory not found/.test(String(e))) { await runSetup(); retry(); } else throw e; }

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: Running `omx ask --agent-prompt executor ...` in an environment where the prompts directory has not been created (fresh install, no `omx setup` run yet, or wrong cwd so the resolved prompts dir points somewhere that lacks it).

Common situations: Fresh clones or containers where setup was skipped; running omx from a directory where env-based prompts dir resolution points to a non-existent path; prompts dir deleted or excluded from deployment.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of Yeachan-Heo/oh-my-codex@3ad79a8a6f (2026-08-27). Data as JSON: /api/errors/f54b9ba42e1c92d8. Report an issue: GitHub.