What causes "cc-switch database not found" in chenhg5/cc-connect?

Install/run the cc-switch app once so it creates its database.

cc-switch database not found

Error message

cc-switch database not found

What it means

listCCSwitchProvidersForWeb reads the cc-switch SQLite database to serve the provider management API. If findCCSwitchDB() cannot locate the database file it returns this error instead of querying. It signals that cc-switch (the provider-switcher app) is not installed or its data directory is absent.

Source

Thrown at cmd/cc-connect/provider.go:492

	case "linux":
		dataHome := os.Getenv("XDG_DATA_HOME")
		if dataHome == "" {
			dataHome = filepath.Join(home, ".local", "share")
		}
		candidates = append(candidates, filepath.Join(dataHome, "cc-switch", "cc-switch.db"))
	case "darwin":
		candidates = append(candidates, filepath.Join(home, "Library", "Application Support", "cc-switch", "cc-switch.db"))
	}

	return candidates
}

// listCCSwitchProvidersForWeb reads the cc-switch database and returns
// providers in the format expected by the management API.
func listCCSwitchProvidersForWeb() ([]core.CCSwitchProviderInfo, error) {
	dbPath := findCCSwitchDB()
	if dbPath == "" {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("cc-switch database not found")
	}

	rows, err := queryCCSwitchDB(dbPath, "")
	if err != nil {
		return nil, err
	}

	result := make([]core.CCSwitchProviderInfo, 0, len(rows))
	for _, row := range rows {
		p, err := convertCCSwitchProvider(row)
		if err != nil {
			continue
		}
		result = append(result, core.CCSwitchProviderInfo{
			Name:      p.Name,
			AppType:   row.AppType,
			APIKey:    p.APIKey,
			BaseURL:   p.BaseURL,

View on GitHub (pinned to 4000b2338a)

Solutions

Install/run the cc-switch app once so it creates its database.
Check that the database exists at the expected location (e.g. ~/.cc-switch/) and is readable by the cc-connect user.
Run cc-connect under a user whose HOME matches the cc-switch installation, or place/copy the DB at the searched path.

Example fix

// before
$ cc-connect serve  # on host without cc-switch
// after
$ ls ~/.cc-switch/cc-switch.db  # verify DB exists (install cc-switch if missing)

Defensive patterns

Strategy: fallback

Validate before calling

if _, err := os.Stat(dbPath); err != nil {
    return fmt.Errorf("cc-switch database missing at %s: %w", dbPath, err)
}

Type guard

if dbPath := findCCSwitchDB(); dbPath == "" { /* fall back to static provider config */ }

Try / catch

rows, err := listCCSwitchProvidersForWeb()
if err != nil {
    if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "database not found") {
        slog.Warn("cc-switch not installed; serving empty provider list")
        rows = nil
    } else {
        return err
    }
}

Prevention

Install and launch cc-switch once before enabling provider management features.
Ensure the cc-connect process runs as a user whose HOME contains the cc-switch DB.
Document the expected DB path in deployment checklists.

When it happens

Trigger: Calling the web management API provider-list endpoint (or listCCSwitchProvidersForWeb directly) on a machine where no cc-switch database exists at any of the searched paths.

Common situations: cc-switch never installed; fresh machine/container without cc-switch data; cc-switch config moved to a non-default XDG/home directory; running cc-connect as a different user whose HOME doesn't contain the DB.

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 chenhg5/cc-connect@4000b2338a (2026-09-06). Data as JSON: /api/errors/2c5961d0e5342666. Report an issue: GitHub.