benbjohnson/litestream · error

database does not exist: %w

Error message

database does not exist: %w

What it means

After flag validation, the shrink command calls os.Stat on the -db path. If the file cannot be stat'ed — typically because it does not exist — the error is wrapped as `database does not exist: %w`. The command operates on an existing SQLite database and never creates one, so a missing file is fatal.

Source

Thrown at cmd/litestream-test/shrink.go:46

	fs.Float64Var(&c.DeletePercentage, "delete-percentage", 50, "Percentage of data to delete (0-100)")
	fs.BoolVar(&c.Vacuum, "vacuum", false, "Run VACUUM after deletion")
	fs.BoolVar(&c.Checkpoint, "checkpoint", false, "Run checkpoint after deletion")
	fs.StringVar(&c.CheckpointMode, "checkpoint-mode", "PASSIVE", "Checkpoint mode (PASSIVE, FULL, RESTART, TRUNCATE)")
	fs.Usage = c.Usage
	if err := fs.Parse(args); err != nil {
		return err
	}

	if c.DB == "" {
		return fmt.Errorf("database path required")
	}

	if c.DeletePercentage < 0 || c.DeletePercentage > 100 {
		return fmt.Errorf("delete percentage must be between 0 and 100")
	}

	if _, err := os.Stat(c.DB); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("database does not exist: %w", err)
	}

	slog.Info("Starting database shrink operation",
		"db", c.DB,
		"delete_percentage", c.DeletePercentage,
		"vacuum", c.Vacuum,
		"checkpoint", c.Checkpoint,
	)

	return c.shrinkDatabase(ctx)
}

func (c *ShrinkCommand) shrinkDatabase(ctx context.Context) error {
	initialSize, err := getDatabaseSize(c.DB)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("get initial size: %w", err)
	}

View on GitHub (pinned to 4ed7a308f6)

Solutions

1. Verify the path with ls -l <path> and correct any typo
2. Create the database first (e.g. run the load_test tool) before shrinking
3. Check you are running from the expected working directory if using a relative path
4. Check directory permissions if the file exists but os.Stat fails

Example fix

// before
litestream-test shrink -db /tmp/test.db
// stat: no such file
// after
ls /tmp/*.db  # confirm the actual filename
litestream-test shrink -db /tmp/load_test.db

if info, err := os.Stat(dbPath); err != nil || info.IsDir() {
    return fmt.Errorf("database not available at %s", dbPath)
}

if err := runShrink(args); err != nil {
    var perr *fs.PathError
    if errors.As(err, &perr) {
        log.Printf("database path problem: %v", perr)
    }
    return err
}

When it happens

Trigger: Passing -db with a path that does not exist, a typo'd filename, a relative path resolved from the wrong working directory, or a path where a permission error makes os.Stat fail (which also wraps here).

Common situations: Running the tool before the load-test generator created the database; pointing at a replica copy that was deleted; using an absolute path on a different machine/container where the file was never provisioned; symlink pointing to a removed target.

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

• database does not exist: %w
• open database: %w
• ensure test table: %w
• populate database: %w
• open database: %w

AI-assisted analysis of benbjohnson/litestream@4ed7a308f6 (2026-09-06). Data as JSON: /api/errors/a4698fb9081b639d. Report an issue: GitHub.