Zackriya-Solutions/meetily · error

Failed to create file: {}

Error message

Failed to create file: {}

What it means

fs::File::create failed for the destination GGUF when starting a fresh (non-resume) download in the summary model manager. Same failure class as the parakeet variant: missing parent directory, no write permission, full disk, or a locked target path. Nothing has been downloaded yet when this fires.

Source

Thrown at frontend/src-tauri/src/summary/summary_engine/model_manager.rs:528

            let mut active = self.active_downloads.write().await;
            active.remove(model_name);
            return Err(anyhow!("Download failed with status: {}", response.status()));
        };

        log::info!("Total size: {} MB", total_size / (1024 * 1024));

        // Open file for append if resuming, or create new
        let file = if resuming {
            OpenOptions::new()
                .write(true)
                .append(true)
                .open(&file_path)
                .await
                .map_err(|e| anyhow!("Failed to open file for append: {}", e))?
        } else {
            fs::File::create(&file_path)
                .await
                .map_err(|e| anyhow!("Failed to create file: {}", e))?
        };

        // Use 8MB buffer to reduce disk I/O syscalls (major performance improvement)
        let mut writer = BufWriter::with_capacity(8 * 1024 * 1024, file);

        let mut downloaded: u64 = if resuming { existing_size } else { 0 };

        // Emit initial progress (showing resumed position if applicable)
        if let Some(ref callback) = progress_callback {
            callback(DownloadProgress::new(downloaded, total_size, 0.0));
        }
        log::info!(
            "Starting at {:.1} MB / {:.1} MB",
            downloaded as f64 / (1024.0 * 1024.0),
            total_size as f64 / (1024.0 * 1024.0)
        );

        let mut last_progress_percent = if total_size > 0 {

View on GitHub (pinned to 0281737d87)

Solutions

1. Create the parent directory with create_dir_all before File::create
2. Check write permissions and free space on the models volume
3. Exclude the models directory from antivirus/sync
4. Report io::ErrorKind in the UI to distinguish permissions from disk space

Example fix

// before
let file = fs::File::create(&file_path)
    .await
    .map_err(|e| anyhow!("Failed to create file: {}", e))?;

// after
if let Some(parent) = file_path.parent() {
    tokio::fs::create_dir_all(parent).await?;
}
let file = fs::File::create(&file_path)
    .await
    .map_err(|e| anyhow!("Failed to create file: {}", e))?

// Pre-flight: ensure directory exists and is writable before download
tokio::fs::create_dir_all(&models_dir).await?;
let probe = models_dir.join(".probe");
tokio::fs::write(&probe, b"x").await?;
tokio::fs::remove_file(&probe).await?;
manager.download_model_detailed(name, cb).await

match download_result {
    Err(e) if e.to_string().starts_with("Failed to create file") => {
        check_permissions_and_disk(); // local issue: fix before retrying
    }
    other => other,
}

When it happens

Trigger: Fresh download of a summary model while <app_data>/models/summary does not exist, is read-only, or the disk is full; the target path locked by antivirus or a sync client at creation time.

Common situations: First download after a fresh install before the directory is created; app data dir on a full volume; Windows Defender locking new .gguf files.

Related errors

• Failed to create file {}: {}
• Failed to flush file: {}
• Failed to write chunk to file: {}
• Failed to flush file {}: {}
• Failed to open file for append: {}

AI-assisted analysis of Zackriya-Solutions/meetily@0281737d87 (2026-08-16). Data as JSON: /api/errors/859c378cf02027e7. Report an issue: GitHub.