abhigyanpatwari/GitNexus · error · ValueError

candidate overlay contains no files: {overlay}

Error message

candidate overlay contains no files: {overlay}

What it means

Thrown by candidate_overlay_files (evolution.py:315) when, after walking the whole tree, the collected entries list is empty. The overlay exists and is a real non-symlink directory but contains no regular files (it may contain only empty subdirectories).

Source

Thrown at eval/workflow_bench/evolution.py:315

                path = Path(item.path)
                relative = path.relative_to(overlay)
                if len(relative.as_posix().encode()) > MAX_CANDIDATE_PATH_BYTES:
                    raise ValueError(f"candidate overlay path exceeds {MAX_CANDIDATE_PATH_BYTES} bytes: {relative}")
                if item.is_symlink():
                    raise ValueError(f"candidate overlay cannot contain symlinks: {relative}")
                if item.is_dir(follow_symlinks=False):
                    child_directories.append(path)
                    continue
                if not item.is_file(follow_symlinks=False):
                    raise ValueError(f"candidate overlay entries must be regular files: {relative}")
                entries.append(path)
                if len(entries) > MAX_CANDIDATE_FILES:
                    raise ValueError(f"candidate overlay exceeds the {MAX_CANDIDATE_FILES}-file limit")
        pending.extend(child_directories)

    entries.sort(key=lambda path: path.relative_to(overlay).as_posix())
    if not entries:
        raise ValueError(f"candidate overlay contains no files: {overlay}")

    for path in entries:
        relative = path.relative_to(overlay)
        parts = relative.parts
        if (
            len(parts) < 4
            or parts[:2] != (".claude", "skills")
            or parts[2] not in CANDIDATE_SKILLS
            or path.suffix.lower() != ".md"
        ):
            raise ValueError(
                "candidate overlays may only contain Markdown files under "
                ".claude/skills/gitnexus-{plan,work}: "
                f"{relative}"
            )
    return entries

View on GitHub (pinned to d540b00184)

Solutions

1. Add the intended .claude/skills/gitnexus-{plan,work}/*.md files to the overlay.
2. Regenerate the overlay artifact and confirm it is non-empty.
3. Check the upstream step that produces the overlay actually wrote files.

Example fix

# before: empty overlay directory
mkdir -p overlay && apply_candidate_overlay(Path('overlay'), ...)  # no files

# after: ensure at least one skill file exists
from pathlib import Path
assert any(Path('overlay').rglob('*.md')), 'overlay has no skill files'

from pathlib import Path

def overlay_has_files(root: Path) -> bool:
    return any(p.is_file() for p in Path(root).rglob('*'))

null

try:
    apply_candidate_overlay(overlay, worktree, sandbox=sandbox)
except ValueError as exc:
    if 'contains no files' in str(exc):
        # add the skill .md files, then retry
        ...

When it happens

Trigger: The overlay directory was created but no skill .md files were placed in it; only empty subdirectories exist; all candidate files were accidentally deleted before the run.

Common situations: An earlier pipeline step that was supposed to generate the prompts produced nothing; a copy command targeted the wrong source; the overlay is a placeholder created by mkdir without content.

Related errors

• candidate overlay is not a directory: {overlay}
• candidate overlays may only contain Markdown files under .cl
• OpenAI API key is required but was not provided
• OpenRouter API key is required but was not provided
• MiniMax API key is required but was not provided

AI-assisted analysis of abhigyanpatwari/GitNexus@d540b00184 (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/169a3a2343b3c309. Report an issue: GitHub.