gatsbyjs/gatsby · error

Please mention both starter package and project name along w

Error message

Please mention both starter package and project name along with path(if its not in the root)

What it means

Thrown in the interactive prompts branch of init-starter when the user dismisses prompts without selecting a starter or entering a project path. The guard `if (!response.starter || !response.path.trim())` aborts before any file operations so no half-configured site is created.

Source

Thrown at packages/gatsby-cli/src/init-starter.ts:244

      {
        type: `select`,
        name: `starter`,
        message: `What starter would you like to use?`,
        choices: [
          { title: `gatsby-starter-default`, value: `gatsby-starter-default` },
          {
            title: `gatsby-starter-hello-world`,
            value: `gatsby-starter-hello-world`,
          },
          { title: `gatsby-starter-blog`, value: `gatsby-starter-blog` },
          { title: `(Use a different starter)`, value: `different` },
        ],
        initial: 0,
      },
    ])
    // exit gracefully if responses aren't provided
    if (!response.starter || !response.path.trim()) {
      throw new Error(
        `Please mention both starter package and project name along with path(if its not in the root)`
      )
    }

    selectedOtherStarter = response.starter === `different`
    starterPath = `gatsbyjs/${response.starter}`
    rootPath = response.path
  }

  // set defaults if no root or starter has been set yet
  rootPath = rootPath || process.cwd()
  starterPath = starterPath || `gatsbyjs/gatsby-starter-default`

  return { starterPath, rootPath, selectedOtherStarter }
}

const successMessage = (path: string): void => {
  report.info(`

View on GitHub (pinned to 8b06340921)

Solutions

1. Re-run `gatsby new` interactively and select a starter, then type a project name (and path if not in cwd).
2. For non-interactive use, pass args explicitly: `gatsby new my-site gatsbyjs/gatsby-starter-default`.
3. If scaffolding into the current directory, supply `.` only where supported, or pick an explicit subdirectory name.

Example fix

# before (cancels or leaves path blank)
gatsby new
# after (non-interactive explicit args)
gatsby new my-site gatsbyjs/gatsby-starter-blog

if (!response?.starter || !String(response?.path ?? '').trim()) {
  console.error('Both starter and project path are required')
  process.exit(1)
}

const hasPromptAnswers = (r: { starter?: string; path?: string }): boolean =>
  !!r?.starter && !!String(r?.path ?? '').trim()

When it happens

Trigger: Running `gatsby new` with no args in a TTY, pressing Esc/Ctrl-C on the starter or path prompt, or submitting an empty path string. The prompts object (enquirer) returns undefined/empty fields and the validation fires.

Common situations: User cancels prompts by accident; non-interactive CI shell where prompts auto-resolve empty; piping empty stdin into `gatsby new`; user expects `gatsby new` to use cwd but leaves the path prompt blank.

Related errors

• starter ${starterPath} doesn't exist
• You can't create a starter from the existing directory. If y
• Could not find a suitable version of gatsby-cli. Please repo
• Something went wrong when trying to add the plugins to the p
• Did not recognize ${curr}

AI-assisted analysis of gatsbyjs/gatsby@8b06340921 (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/9957d81d531c3c9e. Report an issue: GitHub.