angular/angular-cli · error · CollectionMissingSchematicsMapException

Collection "${name}" does not have a schematics map.

Error message

Collection "${name}" does not have a schematics map.

What it means

Thrown by _transformCollectionDescription after a collection.json is loaded: the parsed JSON either has no `schematics` key or it is not an object. A valid collection must map schematic names to their descriptions.

Source

Thrown at packages/angular_devkit/schematics/tools/file-system-engine-host.ts:69

  protected _resolveReferenceString(
    refString: string,
    parentPath: string,
  ): { ref: RuleFactory<{}>; path: string } | null {
    // Use the same kind of export strings as NodeModule.
    const ref = new ExportStringRef<RuleFactory<{}>>(refString, parentPath);
    if (!ref.ref) {
      return null;
    }

    return { ref: ref.ref, path: ref.module };
  }

  protected _transformCollectionDescription(
    name: string,
    desc: Partial<FileSystemCollectionDesc>,
  ): FileSystemCollectionDesc {
    if (!desc.schematics || typeof desc.schematics != 'object') {
      throw new CollectionMissingSchematicsMapException(name);
    }

    return {
      ...desc,
      name,
    } as FileSystemCollectionDesc;
  }

  protected _transformSchematicDescription(
    name: string,
    _collection: FileSystemCollectionDesc,
    desc: Partial<FileSystemSchematicDesc>,
  ): FileSystemSchematicDesc {
    if (!desc.factoryFn || !desc.path || !desc.description) {
      throw new SchematicMissingFieldsException(name);
    }

    return desc as FileSystemSchematicDesc;

View on GitHub (pinned to bb72145f9a)

Solutions

1. Add a `schematics` object to collection.json with at least one schematic entry.
2. Validate the JSON parses and `schematics` is a plain object (not null/array).
3. Confirm you are pointing the engine at collection.json, not package.json.

Example fix

// before (collection.json)
{ "$schema": "...", "version": "1.0" }
// after
{ "$schema": "...", "version": "1.0", "schematics": { "my-schematic": { "factory": "./index#run", "description": "Runs it" } } }

const coll = JSON.parse(readFileSync('collection.json', 'utf8'));
if (!coll.schematics || typeof coll.schematics !== 'object' || Array.isArray(coll.schematics)) {
  throw new Error('collection.json must contain a "schematics" object');
}

function hasSchematicsMap(c: unknown): c is { schematics: Record<string, unknown> } {
  return typeof c === 'object' && c !== null && typeof (c as any).schematics === 'object' && (c as any).schematics !== null && !Array.isArray((c as any).schematics);
}

try {
  const collection = engine.createCollection(name);
} catch (e) {
  if (String(e.message).includes('does not have a schematics map')) {
    throw new Error(`Add a "schematics" map to ${name}'s collection.json`);
  }
  throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: createCollection loads a collection.json that lacks a top-level `schematics` object (missing, null, an array, or a string).

Common situations: A collection.json scaffolded with only `version` or `name` fields; a JSON file that is actually a package.json by mistake; a hand-edited file where `schematics` was renamed or deleted; trailing structural changes from a bad merge.

Related errors

• Collection JSON at path ${JSON.stringify(path)} is invalid.
• Option "project" is required.
• Project is not defined in this workspace.
• Targets are not defined for this project.
• Invalid file replacement: ${JSON.stringify(fileReplacement)}

AI-assisted analysis of angular/angular-cli@bb72145f9a (2026-08-30). Data as JSON: /api/errors/10423865856a38df. Report an issue: GitHub.