hasura/graphql-engine · error

error in copying starter kit: %w

Error message

error in copying starter kit: %w

What it means

Thrown when copying the starter kit from the cloned codegen-assets repo (assets/<framework>/starter-kit) to the destination directory fails — a filesystem-level copy (util.CopyDir-style) error such as missing source, existing destination, or permission denied.

Source

Thrown at cli/commands/actions_use_codegen.go:217

			starterKitDirname = newCodegenExecutionConfig.Framework + "-" + strconv.Itoa(suffix)
			suffix++
			err = util.FSCheckIfDirPathExists(starterKitDirname)
		}

		// copy the starter kit
		destinationDir := filepath.Join(o.EC.ExecutionDirectory, starterKitDirname)

		err = util.FSCopyDir(
			filepath.Join(
				o.EC.GlobalConfigDir,
				util.ActionsCodegenDirName,
				newCodegenExecutionConfig.Framework,
				"starter-kit",
			),
			destinationDir,
		)
		if err != nil {
			return errors.E(op, fmt.Errorf("error in copying starter kit: %w", err))
		}

		o.EC.Logger.Info("Starter kit cloned at " + destinationDir)
	}

	o.EC.Spinner.Stop()

	// if output directory is not provided, make them enter it
	if o.outputDir == "" {
		outputDir, err := util.GetFSPathPrompt(
			"Where do you want to place the codegen files?",
			o.EC.Config.ActionConfig.Codegen.OutputDir,
		)
		if err != nil {
			return errors.E(op, fmt.Errorf("error in getting output directory input: %w", err))
		}

		newCodegenExecutionConfig.OutputDir = outputDir

View on GitHub (pinned to 724551b9ae)

Solutions

1. Choose a fresh, empty destination directory (or remove the previous starter kit copy).
2. Verify write permissions on the destination parent.
3. Refresh the codegen-assets clone if starter-kit files are missing.

DEST=./my-app; [ ! -e "$DEST" ] && [ -w "$(dirname "$DEST")" ] && echo ok

Catch, clear or rename the destination, confirm source kit exists in the clone, then retry.

When it happens

Trigger: Cloning a starter kit when the destination path already exists and is non-empty, the source starter-kit dir is absent from a stale/partial clone, or the destination parent directory is not writable.

Common situations: Running --with-starter-kit into a non-empty project directory twice; clone missing the starter-kit subdir after a CLI/asset version mismatch; read-only workspace in CI.

Related errors

• moving migrations to target database directory: %w
• moving seeds to target database directory: %w
• moving %s to %s : %w
• error generating codegen for action %s: %w
• error in fetching codegen frameworks: %w

AI-assisted analysis of hasura/graphql-engine@724551b9ae (2026-08-28). Data as JSON: /api/errors/1550caf51a20a785. Report an issue: GitHub.