caddyserver/caddy · warning

path missing

Error message

path missing

What it means

Defensive check in unsyncedConfigAccess after splitting the trimmed path on '/': strings.Split never returns a zero-length slice for any input, so 'path missing' is effectively unreachable in practice. It exists purely as a guard against future changes to the trimming/splitting logic.

Source

Thrown at admin.go:1185

		err = json.Unmarshal(body, &val)
		if err != nil {
			if jsonErr, ok := err.(*json.SyntaxError); ok {
				return fmt.Errorf("decoding request body: %w, at offset %d", jsonErr, jsonErr.Offset)
			}
			return fmt.Errorf("decoding request body: %w", err)
		}
	}

	enc := json.NewEncoder(out)

	cleanPath := strings.Trim(path, "/")
	if cleanPath == "" {
		return fmt.Errorf("no traversable path")
	}

	parts := strings.Split(cleanPath, "/")
	if len(parts) == 0 {
		return fmt.Errorf("path missing")
	}

	// A path that ends with "..." implies:
	// 1) the part before it is an array
	// 2) the payload is an array
	// and means that the user wants to expand the elements
	// in the payload array and append each one into the
	// destination array, like so:
	//     array = append(array, elems...)
	// This special case is handled below.
	ellipses := parts[len(parts)-1] == "..."
	if ellipses {
		parts = parts[:len(parts)-1]
	}

	var ptr any = rawCfg

traverseLoop:

View on GitHub (pinned to 50e54ee279)

Solutions

1. If you genuinely see this, verify you are running stock Caddy and not a patched build
2. Report it upstream with the exact request that produced it

If this impossible error appears, log the full request and check for a patched/non-standard build before debugging anything else.

When it happens

Trigger: Not reachable through any current code path: strings.Split on any string (including "") returns at least one element, and the empty case is already rejected by the 'no traversable path' check above.

Common situations: Should never appear. If it does, the file has been modified locally or a fork changed the split logic.

Related errors

• no traversable path
• unknown object ID '%s'
• decoding request body: %w, at offset %d
• decoding request body: %w
• [%s] invalid array index '%s': %v

AI-assisted analysis of caddyserver/caddy@50e54ee279 (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/1d5c92bd15dea829. Report an issue: GitHub.