What causes "No file or directory at %s" in hashicorp/nomad?

Verify the path exists with ls before running fmt

No file or directory at %s

Error message

No file or directory at %s

What it means

The `nomad fmt` command (HCL formatter) stats each supplied path. If os.Stat fails — the file/directory does not exist or is inaccessible — it records "No file or directory at %s" via appendError and continues to the next path.

Source

Thrown at command/fmt.go:175

		return 1
	}

	if !f.checkSuccess {
		return 1
	}
	return 0
}

func (f *FormatCommand) fmt() {
	if len(f.paths) == 0 {
		f.processFile(stdinPath, f.stdin)
		return
	}

	for _, path := range f.paths {
		info, err := os.Stat(path)
		if err != nil {
			f.appendError(fmt.Errorf("No file or directory at %s", path))
			continue
		}

		if info.IsDir() {
			f.processDir(path)
		} else {
			if isNomadFile(info) {
				fp, err := os.Open(path)
				if err != nil {
					f.appendError(fmt.Errorf("Failed to open file %s: %w", path, err))
					continue
				}

				f.processFile(path, fp)

				fp.Close()
			} else {
				f.appendError(fmt.Errorf("Only .nomad and .hcl files can be processed using nomad fmt"))

View on GitHub (pinned to 482b49bf1a)

Solutions

Verify the path exists with ls before running fmt
Run fmt from the correct working directory or use absolute paths
Check shell variables that build the path (an empty variable yields a bad path)

Example fix

// before
nomad fmt ./jobs/task.hcl   # typo: file is tasks.hcl
// after
ls ./jobs/
nomad fmt ./jobs/tasks.hcl

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

info, err := os.Stat(path)
if err != nil {
    return fmt.Errorf("path %q does not exist: %w", path, err)
}

Prevention

Verify paths with ls/test -e before running fmt
Use absolute paths in scripts
Check cwd assumptions and empty shell variables that form paths

When it happens

Trigger: Running `nomad fmt <path>` where path was deleted, mis-typed, is a broken symlink, or the cwd differs from what the caller assumed.

Common situations: Typos in filenames; running fmt from a different directory in scripts; variables expanding to empty so the path becomes invalid; broken symlinks left by tooling.

Understand the failure class

Background: "File not found" and ENOENT errors: why libraries can't find a file that should exist — this error's family across 50 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of hashicorp/nomad@482b49bf1a (2026-09-04). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e54829a5fe8b4ed6. Report an issue: GitHub.