hasura/graphql-engine · error · errors.Error

error finding absolute path for project directory: %w

Error message

error finding absolute path for project directory: %w

What it means

Thrown by validateDirectory when filepath.Abs fails to convert the configured execution directory into an absolute path. This wraps the underlying stdlib error and means the CLI cannot establish a canonical working directory before validating the project layout. In practice it almost never fires on healthy systems since Abs only fails when os.Getwd fails.

Source

Thrown at cli/directory.go:40

// found to have these files, ExecutionDirectory is set as that directory.
func (ec *ExecutionContext) validateDirectory() error {
	var (
		op  errors.Op = "cli.ExecutionContext.validateDirectory"
		err error
	)
	if len(ec.ExecutionDirectory) == 0 {
		cwd, err := os.Getwd()
		if err != nil {
			return errors.E(op, fmt.Errorf("error getting current working directory: %w", err))
		}

		ec.ExecutionDirectory = cwd
	} else {
		ec.ExecutionDirectory, err = filepath.Abs(ec.ExecutionDirectory)
		if err != nil {
			return errors.E(
				op,
				fmt.Errorf("error finding absolute path for project directory: %w", err),
			)
		}
	}

	ed, err := os.Stat(ec.ExecutionDirectory)
	if err != nil {
		if stderrors.Is(err, fs.ErrNotExist) {
			return errors.E(op, fmt.Errorf("did not find required directory. use 'init'?: %w", err))
		}

		return errors.E(op, fmt.Errorf("error getting directory details: %w", err))
	}

	if !ed.IsDir() {
		return errors.E(op, fmt.Errorf("'%s' is not a directory: %w", ed.Name(), err))
	}
	// config.yaml
	// migrations/

View on GitHub (pinned to 724551b9ae)

Solutions

1. Verify the directory you're running from still exists (pwd or ls .); recreate it or cd elsewhere and retry
2. Pass an explicit absolute --directory/project flag so Abs does not depend on the process cwd
3. Check for scripts or CI steps that delete the working directory before invoking the CLI

Example fix

# before
./mycli --dir ./project run   # run from a deleted cwd
# after
cd /tmp && ./mycli --dir /home/user/project run

dir := os.Getenv("PROJECT_DIR")
abs, err := filepath.Abs(dir)
if err != nil {
    log.Fatalf("cannot resolve %q to an absolute path: %v", dir, err)
}
if _, err := os.Stat(abs); err != nil {
    log.Fatalf("execution directory unusable: %v", err)
}

if err := ec.Validate(); err != nil {
    if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "error finding absolute path") {
        // cwd or path resolution is broken; re-run from an existing directory with an absolute path
    }
    return err
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling Validate (or any CLI command that triggers it) with ec.ExecutionDirectory set to a relative path while the process's current working directory has been deleted or become unreadable, causing filepath.Abs -> os.Getwd to return an error.

Common situations: Running the CLI from a terminal whose cwd was deleted (e.g. after a build script rm -rf's its own directory), in containers where the workdir was removed, or after a branch switch removed the current directory.

Related errors

• failed to get the absolute fullPath of %q: %w
• writing metadata to file: %w
• reading metadata file: %w
• error getting current working directory: %w
• did not find required directory. use 'init'?: %w

AI-assisted analysis of hasura/graphql-engine@724551b9ae (2026-08-28). Data as JSON: /api/errors/33be19fa109febd1. Report an issue: GitHub.