denoland/deno · error · anyhow::Error

Input file {} is not under the current directory. Use --outp

Error message

Input file {} is not under the current directory. Use --output instead.

What it means

With `--outdir`, the JS output path is outdir + (input with new extension) relative to cwd; `strip_prefix(cwd)` on the input fails when the input lives outside the current directory, and the error explicitly suggests `--output`, which accepts any path.

Source

Thrown at cli/tools/transpile.rs:555

  cwd: &Path,
  output: Option<&str>,
  output_dir: Option<&str>,
  media_type: MediaType,
) -> Result<PathBuf, AnyError> {
  if let Some(output) = output {
    // Explicit output file
    return Ok(cwd.join(output));
  }

  let ext = js_extension_for_media_type(media_type);
  let js_filename = input_path.with_extension(ext);

  if let Some(outdir) = output_dir {
    let outdir = cwd.join(outdir);
    let relative = js_filename
      .strip_prefix(cwd)
      .map_err(|_| {
        anyhow::anyhow!(
          "Input file {} is not under the current directory. Use --output instead.",
          input_path.display()
        )
      })?;
    Ok(outdir.join(relative))
  } else {
    // Write alongside source file
    Ok(js_filename)
  }
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 89f33cbef2)

Solutions

1. Run the command from a common ancestor directory of all inputs
2. Use --output for a single file regardless of location: `deno transpile ../mod.ts -o out/mod.js`
3. Omit --outdir entirely — output then lands next to each source file

Example fix

# before (cwd = packages/one)
deno transpile --outdir dist ../shared/mod.ts
# after
deno transpile ../shared/mod.ts --output dist/mod.js

# bash: same cwd guard as the declaration variant
for f in "$@"; do
  case "$(realpath "$f")" in "$(pwd)"/*) ;; *) echo "$f outside cwd — use --output" >&2; exit 1;; esac
done
deno transpile --outdir dist "$@"

When it happens

Trigger: `deno transpile --outdir dist ../shared/mod.ts` — an input file not under the current working directory combined with --outdir.

Common situations: Invoking from a nested directory with sources above it; CI steps that cd into an output directory before running the tool.

Related errors

• Declaration file {} is not under the current directory
• Cannot use --output with multiple input files. Use --outdir
• Invalid file path: {}
• Invalid declaration file path
• No input files specified

AI-assisted analysis of denoland/deno@89f33cbef2 (2026-08-16). Data as JSON: /api/errors/30d2be30a9f41853. Report an issue: GitHub.