hasura/graphql-engine · error

error opening file: %w

Error message

error opening file: %w

What it means

While assembling seed SQL in explicit-file mode, ApplySeedsToDatabase reads each listed file with afero.ReadFile; this error wraps any read failure. The %w chain preserves the underlying cause, almost always 'no such file or directory' or 'permission denied'.

Source

Thrown at cli/seed/apply.go:70

		if len(source.Name) == 0 {
			return hasura.SourceKindPG
		}

		return source.Kind
	}

	var sqlAsBytes [][]byte

	if len(filenames) > 0 {
		for _, filename := range filenames {
			absFilename := filepath.Join(seedsDirectory, filename)
			if err := hasAllowedSeedFileExtensions(absFilename); err != nil {
				return errors.E(op, err)
			}

			b, err := afero.ReadFile(fs, absFilename)
			if err != nil {
				return errors.E(op, fmt.Errorf("error opening file: %w", err))
			}

			sqlAsBytes = append(sqlAsBytes, b)
		}
	} else {
		err := afero.Walk(fs, seedsDirectory, func(path string, file os.FileInfo, err error) error {
			if file == nil || err != nil {
				return errors.E(op, err)
			}

			if err := hasAllowedSeedFileExtensions(file.Name()); err == nil && !file.IsDir() {
				b, err := afero.ReadFile(fs, path)
				if err != nil {
					return errors.E(op, fmt.Errorf("error opening file: %w", err))
				}

				sqlAsBytes = append(sqlAsBytes, b)
			}

View on GitHub (pinned to 724551b9ae)

Solutions

1. Verify the file exists at the exact path passed (it is converted to absolute): ls -l <path>.
2. Run the command from the project root so relative paths resolve as expected, or pass absolute paths.
3. Fix read permissions: chmod +r file or chown $USER file.
4. Remove directories from the file list — only regular files can be read.

Example fix

# before
hasura seed apply --file seeds/01_init.sql   # typo'd name
# error opening file: open seeds/01_init.sql: no such file or directory

# after
ls seeds/            # confirm actual name
hasura seed apply --file seeds/01-init.sql

for _, f := range files {
    abs, _ := filepath.Abs(f)
    if fi, err := os.Stat(abs); err != nil || fi.IsDir() {
        return fmt.Errorf("seed file %s missing or not a regular file", f)
    }
}
// then call ApplySeedsToDatabase

if err := seed.ApplyOnSource(...); err != nil {
    var pathErr *os.PathError
    if errors.As(err, &pathErr) && errors.Is(pathErr, fs.ErrNotExist) {
        // missing file: correct the list and retry
    }
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling ApplySeedsToDatabase (via ApplyOnSource or `hasura seed apply`) with a filename in the explicit list that does not exist, is a directory, or is unreadable by the current user.

Common situations: Passing a relative seed filename that is resolved against an unexpected working directory; a typo in the filename on the command line; or seed files owned by another user/root preventing read access.

Related errors

• getting list of seed files to move: %w
• error walking the directory path: %w
• creating metadata file %s failed: %w
• getting list of migrations to move: %w
• creating target seeds directory: %w

AI-assisted analysis of hasura/graphql-engine@724551b9ae (2026-08-28). Data as JSON: /api/errors/0d82ff733d7927b2. Report an issue: GitHub.