cypress-io/cypress · error · SchematicsException

File not found.

Error message

File not found.

What it means

Raised by the readFile() implementation inside createSpec() (cypress-test ng-generate schematic) when tree.read(path) returns a falsy value while the Angular workspaces.readWorkspace API tries to read a file from the virtual tree. readWorkspace walks the workspace and asks the host for files; if a referenced file is absent from the schematic tree, readFile throws this generic SchematicsException.

Source

Thrown at npm/cypress-schematic/src/schematics/ng-generate/cypress-test/index.ts:17

import {
  Rule, Tree, SchematicsException, chain, mergeWith,
} from '@angular-devkit/schematics'

import { virtualFs, workspaces } from '@angular-devkit/core'

import { Schema } from './schema'

import { createTemplate } from '../../utils'

function createSpec (tree: Tree): workspaces.WorkspaceHost {
  return {
    async readFile (path: string): Promise<string> {
      const data = tree.read(path)

      if (!data) {
        throw new SchematicsException('File not found.')
      }

      return virtualFs.fileBufferToString(data)
    },
    async writeFile (path: string, data: string): Promise<void> {
      return tree.overwrite(path, data)
    },
    async isDirectory (path: string): Promise<boolean> {
      return !tree.exists(path) && tree.getDir(path).subfiles.length > 0
    },
    async isFile (path: string): Promise<boolean> {
      return tree.exists(path)
    },
  }
}

export default function (options: Schema): Rule {
  return async (tree: Tree) => {

View on GitHub (pinned to 0d85fdc912)

Solutions

1. Ensure you run the schematic from the Angular workspace root and that angular.json plus all referenced files exist.
2. Run `ng config` or `ng generate component --dry-run` to confirm Angular itself can read the workspace.
3. Restore any missing workspace files from version control before re-running the schematic.
4. Validate that the tree actually contains the file path reported (enable schematic debug logging) and fix the workspace reference.

Example fix

// before: angular.json references a deleted tsconfig, schematic throws 'File not found.'
// after: restore the referenced tsconfig (or remove the dangling reference), then re-run the schematic

// Before triggering the schematic, ensure angular.json and referenced files exist:
import fs from 'fs'

const required = ['./angular.json']
for (const f of required) {
  if (!fs.existsSync(f)) {
    throw new Error(`Missing workspace file required by the schematic: ${f}`)
  }
}

try {
  await runSchematic('cypress-test', opts)
} catch (e) {
  if (e instanceof SchematicsException && /File not found/.test(e.message)) {
    // a workspace file referenced by angular.json is missing — restore it, then retry
  }
  throw e
}

When it happens

Trigger: Running `ng generate @cypress/schematic:cypress-test` when the workspace references a file (commonly angular.json itself or a referenced tsconfig/schematics file) that is not present in the tree — e.g. corrupted workspace, a file deleted between parsing and generation, or a non-standard workspace layout.

Common situations: A workspace with a manually edited angular.json pointing at missing files; running the schematic from the wrong directory so relative paths do not resolve; an Angular CLI version that reads additional config files the workspace does not have; partial git checkout missing workspace files.

Related errors

• Invalid project name: ${options.project}
• Invalid project name: ${options.project}
• No file name specified. This is required to generate a new C
• projects in angular.json is not defined
• angular.json not found

AI-assisted analysis of cypress-io/cypress@0d85fdc912 (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/d2246d44d8d1fc9e. Report an issue: GitHub.