django/django · error · CommandError

No fixture named '%s' found.

Error message

No fixture named '%s' found.

What it means

Raised by loaddata when, after scanning every candidate directory (app fixtures/, FIXTURE_DIRS, and cwd), zero fixture files matched the requested name (loaddata.py:350-351). Django searches all dirs returned by the fixture_dirs cached property for files matching <name>.<fmt>[.<cmp>] across all known serialization and compression formats; an empty result means nothing resolvable was found anywhere.

Source

Thrown at django/core/management/commands/loaddata.py:351

                fixture_name,
                targets,
            )
            if self.verbosity >= 2 and not fixture_files_in_dir:
                self.stdout.write(
                    "No fixture '%s' in %s." % (fixture_name, humanize(fixture_dir))
                )

            # Check kept for backwards-compatibility; it isn't clear why
            # duplicates are only allowed in different directories.
            if len(fixture_files_in_dir) > 1:
                raise CommandError(
                    "Multiple fixtures named '%s' in %s. Aborting."
                    % (fixture_name, humanize(fixture_dir))
                )
            fixture_files.extend(fixture_files_in_dir)

        if not fixture_files:
            raise CommandError("No fixture named '%s' found." % fixture_name)

        return fixture_files

    @cached_property
    def fixture_dirs(self):
        """
        Return a list of fixture directories.

        The list contains the 'fixtures' subdirectory of each installed
        application, if it exists, the directories in FIXTURE_DIRS, and the
        current directory.
        """
        dirs = []
        fixture_dirs = settings.FIXTURE_DIRS
        if len(fixture_dirs) != len(set(fixture_dirs)):
            raise ImproperlyConfigured("settings.FIXTURE_DIRS contains duplicates.")
        for app_config in apps.get_app_configs():
            app_label = app_config.label

View on GitHub (pinned to ae25a40be0)

Solutions

  1. Pass the -v 2 flag to see which directories Django searches and confirm your fixture's location is among them.
  2. Add the directory to settings.FIXTURE_DIRS, or place the file under <app>/fixtures/.
  3. Double-check spelling and case of the fixture name and its extension.
  4. If using a non-default format, ensure the extension (e.g. .yaml) is registered as a serializer.

Example fix

// before
# fixture at /opt/data/seed.json, not searched
python manage.py loaddata seed
// after
# settings.py
FIXTURE_DIRS = ['/opt/data']
python manage.py loaddata seed  # now resolved
Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

import os
from django.conf import settings

def fixture_resolvable(name: str) -> bool:
    from django.core.serializers import get_serializer_formats
    fmts = get_serializer_formats()
    for d in (*[os.path.join(p, 'fixtures') for p in getattr(settings, 'FIXTURE_DIRS', [])],
              *settings.FIXTURE_DIRS):
        for fmt in fmts:
            if os.path.exists(os.path.join(d, f'{name}.{fmt}')):
                return True
    return False

Type guard

def fixture_exists(name) -> bool:
    return fixture_resolvable(name)

Try / catch

from django.core.management.base import CommandError
from django.core.management import call_command

try:
    call_command('loaddata', 'seed')
except CommandError as e:
    logger.error('Fixture not found: %s. Run with -v 2 to see searched dirs.', e)
    raise

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: Typo in the fixture label passed to `loaddata`; fixture file in a directory Django does not search (not under an app's fixtures/ nor in FIXTURE_DIRS); wrong extension that is neither a serialization nor compression format; passing an absolute path that doesn't exist; case-sensitivity mismatch on case-sensitive filesystems.

Common situations: Forgetting to add the fixtures directory to FIXTURE_DIRS when it lives outside an app; renaming a fixture but not the loaddata call; running loaddata from a different working directory than where the fixture lives; pushing a fixture in .gitignore so it's absent in CI.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of django/django@ae25a40be0 (2026-08-06). Data as JSON: /api/errors/9bc98c157e42f4e8. Report an issue: GitHub.