What causes "File does not exist: ${filepath}" in actualbudget/actual?

Recreate the file by re-uploading/importing the budget or re-running the code path that writes it first

actualbudget/actual · error · Error

File does not exist: ${filepath}

Error message

File does not exist: ${filepath}

What it means

The web (IDB-backed) `fs` implementation checks `_exists()` before reading a persisted, non-sqlite file from IndexedDB. If the file isn't present on disk (in-memory fs) it throws immediately, before even consulting IDB.

Source

Thrown at packages/loot-core/src/platform/server/fs/index.ts:133

): Promise<string>;
async function _readFile(
  filepath: string,
  opts?: { encoding: 'binary' },
): Promise<Uint8Array>;
async function _readFile(
  filepath: string,
  opts?: { encoding: 'utf8' } | { encoding: 'binary' },
): Promise<string | Uint8Array> {
  // We persist stuff in /documents, but don't need to handle sqlite
  // file specifically because those are symlinked to a separate
  // filesystem and will be handled in the BlockedFS
  if (
    !NO_PERSIST &&
    isPersistedPath(filepath) &&
    !filepath.endsWith('.sqlite')
  ) {
    if (!_exists(filepath)) {
      throw new Error('File does not exist: ' + filepath);
    }

    // Grab contents from IDB
    const { store } = idb.getStore(await idb.getDatabase(), 'files');
    const item = await idb.get(store, filepath);

    if (item == null) {
      throw new Error('File does not exist: ' + filepath);
    }

    if (opts?.encoding === 'utf8' && ArrayBuffer.isView(item.contents)) {
      return String.fromCharCode.apply(
        null,
        new Uint16Array(item.contents.buffer),
      );
    }

    return item.contents;

View on GitHub (pinned to d4334cb6e6)

Solutions

Recreate the file by re-uploading/importing the budget or re-running the code path that writes it first
Verify the exact path string (trailing slashes, remote vs local prefix) matches what was written
If data was cleared, restore from a backup or the sync server instead of reading locally

Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

import { exists } from './platform/server/fs';
if (!(await exists(filepath))) {
  throw new Error(`Skipping read; file was never written: ${filepath}`);
}

Try / catch

try {
  const data = await fs.readFile(filepath);
} catch (e) {
  if (String(e).startsWith('File does not exist')) {
    // recreate via the writer path or restore from backup/sync
  } else throw e;
}

Prevention

Always call fs.exists (or wrap reads in try/catch) before reading persisted paths
Remember browser storage can be cleared — never assume local files persist across sessions
Keep budget data synced to the server so local loss is recoverable

When it happens

Trigger: Calling `readFile`/`contents` on a persisted path (tracked by `isPersistedPath`, e.g. budget metadata files) that was never written in this browser profile, or whose record was evicted/cleared while the in-memory check also fails.

Common situations: A different browser profile or cleared IndexedDB losing files the app expects; a race where a file was deleted between the exists check and read; hand-crafted paths pointing at files that don't exist.

Understand the failure class

Background: "File not found" and ENOENT errors: why libraries can't find a file that should exist — this error's family across 50 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of actualbudget/actual@d4334cb6e6 (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/58093c936d11054f. Report an issue: GitHub.