skill entry ${fullPath} ignored: failed to follow symbolic l

Error message

skill entry ${fullPath} ignored: failed to follow symbolic link: ${errorMessage(error)}

What it means

Error "skill entry ${fullPath} ignored: failed to follow symbolic link: ${errorMessage(error)}" thrown in deepseek-ai/deepseek-harness.

Source

Thrown at packages/skill/skill-filesystem/src/index.ts:904

function fsReadErrorMessage(target: FsTarget, error: unknown): string {
  return `failed to read text file at ${target.displayPath}: ${errorMessage(error)}`
}

async function nodeEntryKind(fullPath: string, entry: { isDirectory(): boolean; isFile(): boolean; isSymbolicLink(): boolean }, ctx: Context): Promise<'directory' | 'file' | undefined> {
  if (entry.isDirectory()) return 'directory'
  if (entry.isFile()) return 'file'
  /* v8 ignore next -- Non-file directory entries such as FIFOs are platform-specific and intentionally skipped. */
  if (!entry.isSymbolicLink()) return undefined
  try {
    const info = await stat(fullPath)
    if (info.isDirectory()) return 'directory'
    /* v8 ignore else -- the special-file symlink branch relies on POSIX /dev/null. */
    if (info.isFile()) return 'file'
    /* v8 ignore next -- The special-file symlink fixture relies on POSIX /dev/null. */
    return undefined
  } catch (error) {
    ctx.logger.warn(`skill entry ${fullPath} ignored: failed to follow symbolic link: ${errorMessage(error)}`)
    return undefined
  }
}

function parseFrontmatter(raw: string): { data: Record<string, unknown>; body: string } | undefined {
  const firstLineEnd = raw.indexOf('\n')
  if (firstLineEnd < 0) return undefined
  const firstLine = raw.slice(0, firstLineEnd).replace(/\r$/, '')
  if (firstLine !== '---') return undefined
  const start = firstLineEnd + 1
  const closing = findClosingFrontmatter(raw, start)
  if (closing === undefined) return undefined
  const yaml = raw.slice(start, closing.start)
  const parsed = parseYaml(yaml) as unknown
  if (typeof parsed !== 'object' || parsed === null || Array.isArray(parsed)) return undefined
  return { data: parsed as Record<string, unknown>, body: raw.slice(closing.bodyStart) }
}

View on GitHub (pinned to b150a551b8)

Solutions

Replace the broken symbolic link with a valid target or a regular file.
Verify the symlink target exists and does not form a loop.

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at packages/skill/skill-filesystem/src/index.ts:904 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of deepseek-ai/deepseek-harness@b150a551b8 (2026-08-24). Data as JSON: /api/errors/2185e6ff81f6d283. Report an issue: GitHub.