hasura/graphql-engine · error

error getting actions file content: %w

Error message

error getting actions file content: %w

What it means

Thrown when no specific actions are passed to `hasura actions codegen`, so the CLI falls back to reading all actions from the actions file (actions.yaml in the metadata directory) via actionCfg.GetActionsFileContent(), and that read/parse fails. The actions file is missing, unreadable, or invalid YAML.

Source

Thrown at cli/commands/actions_codegen.go:129

	if o.EC.Config.ActionConfig.Codegen.Framework == "" {
		return errors.E(
			op,
			stderrors.New(`could not find codegen config. For adding codegen config, run:

  hasura actions use-codegen`),
		)
	}

	// if no actions are passed, perform codegen for all actions
	o.EC.Spin("Generating code...")

	var codegenActions []string

	actionCfg := actions.New(o.EC, o.EC.MetadataDir)
	if len(o.actions) == 0 {
		actionsFileContent, err := actionCfg.GetActionsFileContent()
		if err != nil {
			return errors.E(op, fmt.Errorf("error getting actions file content: %w", err))
		}

		for _, action := range actionsFileContent.Actions {
			codegenActions = append(codegenActions, action.Name)
		}
	} else {
		codegenActions = o.actions
	}

	for _, actionName := range codegenActions {
		err = actionCfg.Codegen(actionName, derivePayload)
		if err != nil {
			return errors.E(
				op,
				fmt.Errorf("error generating codegen for action %s: %w", actionName, err),
			)
		}
	}

View on GitHub (pinned to 724551b9ae)

Solutions

1. Confirm actions.yaml exists under your metadata directory and lists at least one action.
2. Validate the YAML (e.g. `yq . metadata/actions.yaml`) and fix syntax/structure (needs a top-level `actions:` list with `name` fields).
3. Create an action first with `hasura actions create <name>` so the file is generated correctly.
4. Check the --metadata-dir flag / HASURA_METADATA_DIR env points at the right folder.

test -f metadata/actions.yaml && yq e '.actions[0].name' metadata/actions.yaml >/dev/null

Catch and check the wrapped error for YAML/missing-file causes; regenerate actions.yaml via `hasura actions create` or fix YAML before retrying.

When it happens

Trigger: Running `hasura actions codegen` with no action name arguments when metadata/actions.yaml does not exist, has malformed YAML, lacks the expected `actions:` structure, or the metadata directory permissions deny reading.

Common situations: Running codegen before ever creating an action (`hasura actions create`), pointing --metadata-dir at the wrong directory, hand-editing actions.yaml and breaking indentation, or a fresh checkout missing uncommitted metadata files.

Related errors

• error in creating action: %w
• cue extraction error: %w
• cannot build %s from project: %w
• parsing yaml metadata to json: %w
• parsing metadata to yaml: %w

AI-assisted analysis of hasura/graphql-engine@724551b9ae (2026-08-28). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e04cf9f19138bd86. Report an issue: GitHub.