coder/code-server · error · Error

Failed to load custom strings from ${filePath}: ${error inst

Error message

Failed to load custom strings from ${filePath}: ${error instanceof Error ? error.message : String(error)}

What it means

The final else branch of loadCustomStrings catches any error that is neither ENOENT nor SyntaxError (e.g. EACCES permission denied, EISDIR for a directory, or a thrown non-Error). It rethrows a generic `Failed to load custom strings from <path>` with the underlying message, preserving the cause text.

Source

Thrown at src/node/i18n/index.ts:43

}

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,
})

export default i18next

View on GitHub (pinned to 51f90a376b)

Solutions

1. Check permissions: `ls -l /path/strings.json` and ensure the code-server user has read access
2. Confirm the path is a file, not a directory
3. In containers, set the file's owner/group or chmod it to be world-readable if appropriate

Example fix

# before: file owned by root, code-server runs as 'coder'
$ ls -l strings.json
-rw------- 1 root root ... strings.json

# after
chown coder:coder strings.json
# or
chmod a+r strings.json

import fs from "fs/promises"
async function assertReadableFile(path: string): Promise<void> {
  const stat = await fs.stat(path)
  if (!stat.isFile()) throw new Error(`${path} is not a regular file`)
  await fs.access(path, fs.constants.R_OK)
}

function isFsError(e: unknown): e is NodeJS.ErrnoException {
  return typeof e === "object" && e !== null && typeof (e as NodeJS.ErrnoException).code === "string"
}

try {
  await loadCustomStrings(args.i18n)
} catch (e) {
  const code = (e as NodeJS.ErrnoException).code
  if (code === "EACCES") console.error(`Permission denied reading ${args.i18n}`)
  else if (code === "EISDIR") console.error(`${args.i18n} is a directory`)
  else throw e
}

When it happens

Trigger: The --i18n path exists and parses but cannot be read due to permissions (EACCES), is a directory (EISDIR), or hits a filesystem error (disk, mount).

Common situations: Containers where the file is owned by root but code-server runs as a non-root user; pointing --i18n at a directory by mistake; read-only filesystems.

Related errors

• Custom strings file not found: ${filePath}\nPlease ensure th
• 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/8c69218c32567f74. Report an issue: GitHub.