coder/code-server · error · Error

Custom strings file not found: ${filePath}\nPlease ensure th

Error message

Custom strings file not found: ${filePath}\nPlease ensure the file exists and is readable.

What it means

loadCustomStrings (i18n/index.ts:39) reads the --i18n custom strings file and re-throws a friendly ENOENT message when fs.readFile reports code === 'ENOENT'. This means the path passed to --i18n does not exist or is not accessible at startup.

Source

Thrown at src/node/i18n/index.ts:39

  },
  ur: {
    translation: ur,
  },
}

export async function loadCustomStrings(filePath: string): Promise<void> {
  try {
    // Read custom strings from file path only
    const fileContent = await fs.readFile(filePath, "utf8")
    const customStringsData = JSON.parse(fileContent)

    // User-provided strings override all languages.
    Object.keys(defaultResources).forEach((locale) => {
      i18next.addResourceBundle(locale, "translation", customStringsData)
    })
  } catch (error) {
    if (error && typeof error === "object" && "code" in error && error.code === "ENOENT") {
      throw new Error(`Custom strings file not found: ${filePath}\nPlease ensure the file exists and is readable.`)
    } else if (error instanceof SyntaxError) {
      throw new Error(`Invalid JSON in custom strings file: ${filePath}\n${error.message}`)
    } else {
      throw new Error(
        `Failed to load custom strings from ${filePath}: ${error instanceof Error ? error.message : String(error)}`,
      )
    }
  }
}

init({
  lng: "en",
  fallbackLng: "en", // language to use if translations in user language are not available.
  returnNull: false,
  lowerCaseLng: true,
  debug: process.env.NODE_ENV === "development",
  resources: defaultResources,
})

View on GitHub (pinned to 51f90a376b)

Solutions

1. Verify the file exists at the exact absolute path: `ls -l /path/strings.json`
2. Use an absolute path for --i18n to avoid cwd ambiguity
3. In containers, confirm the file is copied/mounted and readable by the code-server user (check volume mounts and COPY layers)

Example fix

# before
code-server --i18n=./strings.json   # relative, file not in cwd

# after
code-server --i18n=/etc/code-server/strings.json

import fs from "fs/promises"
async function customStringsExists(path: string): Promise<boolean> {
  try { await fs.access(path, fs.constants.R_OK); return true } catch { return false }
}
if (args.i18n && !(await customStringsExists(args.i18n))) {
  throw new Error(`--i18n file not found: ${args.i18n}`)
}

function isENOENT(e: unknown): boolean {
  return typeof e === "object" && e !== null && (e as NodeJS.ErrnoException).code === "ENOENT"
}

try {
  await loadCustomStrings(args.i18n)
} catch (e) {
  if (isENOENTLike(e)) console.error(`Custom strings file not found: ${args.i18n}`)
  else throw e
}

When it happens

Trigger: Starting code-server with `--i18n=/path/strings.json` where /path/strings.json does not exist, is a broken symlink, or is in a directory the code-server user cannot traverse.

Common situations: Mounting a volume in Docker/k8s at the wrong path; relative paths resolved against an unexpected cwd; deploying before the translations artifact is built.

Related errors

• Failed to load custom strings from ${filePath}: ${error inst
• Invalid JSON in custom strings file: ${filePath}\n${error.me
• invalid config: ${config}
• Please pass in a password via the config file or environment
• --password can only be set in the config file or passed in v

AI-assisted analysis of coder/code-server@51f90a376b (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/c3916de99ef78931. Report an issue: GitHub.