crewAIInc/crewAI · error · SystemExit

Project build failed. Please ensure that the command `uv…

Error message

Project build failed. Please ensure that the command `uv build --sdist` completes successfully.

What it means

Printed with SystemExit(1) by ToolCommand.publish() when, after running `uv build --sdist` in a temp build dir, no *.tar.gz file is found in the output directory. It means the sdist build produced no artifact — typically because the build itself failed or the project's build configuration (pyproject.toml) is broken, invalid, or the package would be empty.

Solutions

1. Reproduce the build directly to see the real error: `uv build --sdist` in the project root.
2. Fix pyproject.toml: valid name, version, [build-system] with hatchling, and existing files referenced in metadata (readme, license).
3. If the project was not scaffolded as a tool, regenerate with `crewai tool create <handle>` and port your code in.
4. Upgrade uv (`pip install -U uv` / `uv self update`) so modern sdist targets are supported.

Example fix

# before (pyproject.toml missing build backend)
[project]
name = "my-tool"
version = "0.1.0"

# after
[build-system]
requires = ["hatchling"]
build-backend = "hatchling.build"

[project]
name = "my-tool"
version = "0.1.0"
readme = "README.md"

import subprocess, pathlib
def sdist_builds(project_dir: str) -> bool:
    r = subprocess.run(["uv", "build", "--sdist"], cwd=project_dir,
                       capture_output=True, text=True)
    if r.returncode != 0:
        print(r.stderr)
        return False
    return any(p.suffix == ".gz" for p in pathlib.Path(project_dir, "dist").glob("*.tar.gz"))

When it happens

Trigger: Running `crewai tool publish` on a project whose pyproject.toml is malformed, has no [build-system]/hatchling config, excludes all files from the sdist, lacks a README referenced in metadata, or where `uv build --sdist` fails on version/spec errors (the output is streamed with capture_output=False so the uv errors appear above this message).

Common situations: Tool project scaffolded manually instead of via `crewai tool create`; pyproject.toml referencing a missing readme/license file; name/version fields missing or not PEP 508 compliant; uv not present or an old uv version that fails silently.

Related errors

• Failed to publish tool. Local changes need to be resolved…
• This subcommand requires the full crewai package. Install…
• An error occurred while replaying the crew
• An error occurred while running the crew
• An error occurred while running the crew with trigger

AI-assisted analysis of crewAIInc/crewAI@754d7323be (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/2f1fc319f3666967. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at lib/cli/src/crewai_cli/tools/main.py:178

            pass

        with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as temp_build_dir:
            subprocess.run(  # noqa: S603
                ["uv", "build", "--sdist", "--out-dir", temp_build_dir],  # noqa: S607
                check=True,
                capture_output=False,
                env=build_env,
            )

            tarball_filename = next(
                (f for f in os.listdir(temp_build_dir) if f.endswith(".tar.gz")), None
            )
            if not tarball_filename:
                console.print(
                    "Project build failed. Please ensure that the command `uv build --sdist` completes successfully.",
                    style="bold red",
                )
                raise SystemExit(1)

            tarball_path = os.path.join(temp_build_dir, tarball_filename)
            with open(tarball_path, "rb") as file:
                tarball_contents = file.read()

            encoded_tarball = base64.b64encode(tarball_contents).decode("utf-8")

        console.print("[bold blue]Publishing tool to repository...[/bold blue]")
        publish_response = self.plus_api_client.publish_tool(
            handle=project_name,
            is_public=is_public,
            version=project_version,
            description=project_description,
            encoded_file=f"data:application/x-gzip;base64,{encoded_tarball}",
            available_exports=available_exports,
            tools_metadata=tools_metadata,
        )

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