gleam-lang/gleam · error

Failed to get current directory

Error message

Failed to get current directory

What it means

In test-only helper project_paths_at_current_directory_without_toml, get_current_directory() is unwrapped with the message 'Failed to get current directory'. It fires when the process' current working directory cannot be read, usually because it was deleted or is unreadable. It is returned by/used from the build_lock test functions locking_global, locking_dev_erlang, etc.

Solutions

1. cd into an existing directory before running the tests
2. Recreate the deleted working directory or restart your shell/terminal
3. In sandboxed/CI environments ensure the test working directory exists and is readable
4. If it persists, check filesystem permissions on the directory

Example fix

// before (cwd deleted)
$ rm -rf ../some-dir && cd ../some-dir && cargo test
// after
$ cd /path/to/gleam && cargo test -p gleam-cli build_lock

// run from a directory that exists
assert!(std::env::current_dir().is_ok(), "cwd missing");

When it happens

Trigger: Calling any of the BuildLock tests (locking_global, locking_dev_erlang, locking_prod_erlang, locking_dev_javascript, locking_prod_javascript, locking_lsp_erlang) while the shell's cwd no longer exists (deleted directory, stale container mount).

Common situations: Running `cargo test` from a directory that was removed or replaced by another process; test runners launched in ephemeral containers whose working dir vanished; sandboxed environments denying access to the cwd.

Related errors

• invalid folder
• Directory name
• is_gleam_path(): strip_prefix
• Non Utf-8 Path
• Non Utf8 Path

AI-assisted analysis of gleam-lang/gleam@49f8762da5 (2026-09-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/d4d761f719419918. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at compiler-cli/src/lib.rs:1047

fn initialise_logger() {
    let enable_colours = std::env::var("GLEAM_LOG_NOCOLOUR").is_err();
    tracing_subscriber::fmt()
        .with_writer(std::io::stderr)
        .with_env_filter(std::env::var("GLEAM_LOG").unwrap_or_else(|_| "off".into()))
        .with_target(false)
        .with_ansi(enable_colours)
        .without_time()
        .init();
}

fn find_project_paths(current_dir: Utf8PathBuf) -> Result<ProjectPaths> {
    get_project_root(current_dir).map(ProjectPaths::new)
}

#[cfg(test)]
fn project_paths_at_current_directory_without_toml() -> ProjectPaths {
    let current_dir = get_current_directory().expect("Failed to get current directory");
    ProjectPaths::new(current_dir)
}

fn download_dependencies(paths: &ProjectPaths) -> Result<()> {
    _ = dependencies::resolve_and_download(
        paths,
        cli::Reporter::new(),
        None,
        Vec::new(),
        dependencies::DependencyManagerConfig {
            use_manifest: dependencies::UseManifest::Yes,
            check_major_versions: dependencies::CheckMajorVersions::No,
        },
    )?;
    Ok(())
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 49f8762da5)