clockworklabs/SpacetimeDB · error · anyhow::Error

`--module-path`, `--project-path`, and…

Error message

`--module-path`, `--project-path`, and `--module-bindings-path` cannot be used when `spacetime.json` contains generate targets. Remove these flags or remove generate targets from config.

What it means

The counterpart guard for generate targets: when spacetime.json declares generate entries, none of --module-path, --project-path, or --module-bindings-path may come from the CLI, because those paths are owned by the per-entry configuration and a CLI value would conflict with it.

Solutions

1. Remove the three path flags and configure paths per generate entry in spacetime.json
2. Remove the generate targets from spacetime.json if you want CLI-driven paths

Example fix

# before
spacetime dev --module-bindings-path bindings
# spacetime.json has "generate": [ ... ]

# after
spacetime dev    # paths come from the generate entries

// with generate targets configured, none of the three path flags may come from the CLI
let has_generate_targets = !spacetime_json.generate.as_ref().map_or(false, Vec::is_empty);
if has_generate_targets {
    for f in ["--module-path", "--project-path", "--module-bindings-path"] {
        assert!(!cli_has_flag(f), "{f} conflicts with generate targets in spacetime.json");
    }
}

When it happens

Trigger: spacetime.json has a non-empty generate array and any of --module-path, --project-path, or --module-bindings-path is supplied on the command line.

Common situations: Reusing an old dev command line after adding generate entries to spacetime.json; wrapper scripts that always pass the three path flags.

Related errors

• Cannot use generate-entry-specific arguments
• database is a required field in publish config
• `--module-path` cannot be used when `spacetime.json`…
• Aborted.
• Cannot continue without a module path.

AI-assisted analysis of clockworklabs/SpacetimeDB@3653d2ed49 (2026-08-20). Data as JSON: /api/errors/560520c17a921792. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at crates/cli/src/subcommands/dev.rs:339

        .map(|g| !g.is_empty())
        .unwrap_or(false);

    let module_path_from_cli_flag = args.value_source("module-path") == Some(ValueSource::CommandLine);
    let project_path_from_cli_flag = args.value_source("project-path") == Some(ValueSource::CommandLine);
    let module_bindings_path_from_cli_flag =
        args.value_source("module-bindings-path") == Some(ValueSource::CommandLine);

    if has_publish_targets_in_config && module_path_from_cli_flag {
        anyhow::bail!(
            "`--module-path` cannot be used when `spacetime.json` contains publish targets. \
             Remove `--module-path` or run without publish targets in config."
        );
    }

    if has_generate_targets_in_config
        && (module_path_from_cli_flag || project_path_from_cli_flag || module_bindings_path_from_cli_flag)
    {
        anyhow::bail!(
            "`--module-path`, `--project-path`, and `--module-bindings-path` cannot be used when \
             `spacetime.json` contains generate targets. Remove these flags or remove generate targets from config."
        );
    }

    // Fetch the database name if it was passed through a CLI arg
    let database_name_from_cli: Option<String> = args
        .get_one::<String>("database")
        .or_else(|| args.get_one::<String>("database-flag"))
        .map(|name| {
            if args.get_one::<String>("database-flag").is_some() {
                println!(
                    "{} {}",
                    "Warning:".yellow().bold(),
                    "--database flag is deprecated. Use positional argument instead: spacetime dev <database>".dimmed()
                );
            }
            name.clone()

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