astral-sh/ruff · error · anyhow::Error

The current working directory `{}` contains non-Unicode char

Error message

The current working directory `{}` contains non-Unicode characters. ty only supports Unicode paths.

What it means

At startup the `ty` binary converts the process working directory into a `SystemPathBuf`; on platforms where paths are byte strings (Linux/macOS) a cwd containing invalid UTF-8 bytes makes `SystemPathBuf::from_path_buf` return the original path as an error. ty standardizes on Unicode paths on every platform, so it aborts with this message — echoing the offending path via `path.display()` — instead of guessing how to handle the bytes.

Source

Thrown at crates/ty/src/lib.rs:108

fn run_check(args: CheckCommand) -> anyhow::Result<ExitStatus> {
    // Enabled ANSI colors on Windows 10.
    #[cfg(windows)]
    assert!(colored::control::set_virtual_terminal(true).is_ok());

    set_colored_override(args.color);

    let verbosity = args.verbosity.level();
    let _guard = setup_tracing(verbosity, args.color.unwrap_or_default())?;

    let printer = Printer::new(verbosity, args.no_progress);

    tracing::debug!("Version: {}", version::version());

    // The base path to which all CLI arguments are relative to.
    let cwd = {
        let cwd = std::env::current_dir().context("Failed to get the current working directory")?;
        SystemPathBuf::from_path_buf(cwd).map_err(|path| {
            anyhow!(
                "The current working directory `{}` contains non-Unicode characters. \
                ty only supports Unicode paths.",
                path.display()
            )
        })?
    };

    let project_path = args
        .project
        .as_ref()
        .map(|project| {
            if project.as_std_path().is_dir() {
                Ok(SystemPath::absolute(project, &cwd))
            } else {
                Err(anyhow!(
                    "Provided project path `{project}` is not a directory"
                ))
            }

View on GitHub (pinned to 672bb4edf0)

Solutions

1. Move or rename the non-UTF-8 directory component so the full cwd is valid UTF-8, then re-run ty
2. Re-clone or re-checkout the project into a clean Unicode path and work from there
3. Set a UTF-8 locale (e.g. LANG=en_US.UTF-8) and recreate the directory so future names are UTF-8

Example fix

# before (cwd contains invalid UTF-8 bytes)
cd $'bad\xff/path/project' && ty check
# after
mv $'bad\xff' bad-safe && cd bad-safe/path/project && ty check

python3 -c 'import os; os.getcwd().encode("utf-8")' 2>/dev/null \
  || { echo "cwd is not valid UTF-8; ty cannot run here" >&2; exit 2; }

// Rust (for embedders of ty's path layer)
fn is_unicode_path(p: &std::path::Path) -> bool {
    p.to_str().is_some()
}

When it happens

Trigger: Running any `ty` subcommand (`ty check`, `ty server`, `ty rule`, ...) from a directory whose absolute path includes a byte sequence that is not valid UTF-8, e.g. a directory created under a legacy single-byte locale or restored from an archive that mangled filenames.

Common situations: Unix checkouts in directories named with Latin-1/CP1252 bytes; CI agents whose workspace root contains non-UTF-8 components; paths created by tools running without a UTF-8 locale; deliberate byte-name fuzz testing.

Related errors

• Provided project path `{project}` is not a directory
• Detected project directory `{path}` contains non-Unicode cha
• The current working directory `{}` contains non-Unicode char
• `--watch` is not supported with uv workspace integration
• {e}

AI-assisted analysis of astral-sh/ruff@672bb4edf0 (2026-08-16). Data as JSON: /api/errors/c0bea970034917ca. Report an issue: GitHub.