invoke-ai/InvokeAI · error · ValueError

No model files or config files found in directory {path}. Ex

Error message

No model files or config files found in directory {path}. Expected to find model files with extensions: {extensions} or config files: {config_files}

What it means

After extension and file-count checks pass, the validator searches the directory (within a depth limit) for any file with a recognized model extension or a known config file. Finding neither, it raises this ValueError: the directory exists and is small enough, but contains no recognizable model artifacts.

Source

Thrown at invokeai/backend/model_manager/configs/factory.py:622

                            "Please provide a path to a specific model file or model directory."
                        )

            # Otherwise, search for model files within depth limit
            def find_model_files(current_path: Path, depth: int) -> bool:
                if depth > _MAX_SEARCH_DEPTH:
                    return False
                try:
                    for item in current_path.iterdir():
                        if item.is_file() and item.suffix.lower() in _MODEL_EXTENSIONS:
                            return True
                        elif item.is_dir() and find_model_files(item, depth + 1):
                            return True
                except PermissionError:
                    pass
                return False

            if not find_model_files(path, 0):
                raise ValueError(
                    f"No model files or config files found in directory {path}. "
                    f"Expected to find model files with extensions: {', '.join(sorted(_MODEL_EXTENSIONS))} "
                    f"or config files: {', '.join(sorted(_CONFIG_FILES))}"
                )

    @staticmethod
    def matches_sort_key(m: AnyModelConfig) -> int:
        """Sort key function to prioritize model config matches in case of multiple matches."""

        # It is possible that we have multiple matches. We need to prioritize them.

        # Known cases where multiple matches can occur:
        # - SD main models can look like a LoRA when they have merged in LoRA weights. Prefer the main model.
        # - SD main models in diffusers format can look like a CLIP Embed; they have a text_encoder folder with
        #   a config.json file. Prefer the main model.

        # Given the above cases, we can prioritize the matches by type. If we find more cases, we may need a more
        # sophisticated approach.

View on GitHub (pinned to 0b6a024f2f)

Solutions

  1. Verify the directory actually contains weights files (ls the directory; check extensions like .safetensors/.bin/.ckpt or config files)
  2. Re-run the download/extraction — the folder is likely an artifact of a failed install
  3. Fix filesystem permissions if files exist but are unreadable (PermissionError is silently ignored during search)
  4. Point at the correct subdirectory containing the model files

Example fix

// before
install_model("/models/sdxl/venv_empty")  # no weights inside
// after
assert any(f.suffix in {".safetensors", ".bin", ".ckpt"} for f in pathlib.Path("/models/sdxl").rglob("*"))
install_model("/models/sdxl")
Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

import pathlib

_MODEL_EXTS = {".safetensors", ".ckpt", ".pt", ".bin", ".pth", ".gguf"}
_CONFIGS = {"config.json", "model_index.json"}

def dir_has_model_artifacts(path: str) -> bool:
    for f in pathlib.Path(path).rglob("*"):
        if f.suffix.lower() in _MODEL_EXTS or f.name in _CONFIGS:
            return True
    return False

Try / catch

try:
    install_model(path)
except ValueError as e:
    if "No model files or config files found" in str(e):
        logger.error("Directory has no recognizable weights/config; re-download the model")
    else:
        raise

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: from_model_on_disk given an empty directory, a directory holding only unrelated files (images, logs, docs), or a directory whose model weights use unrecognized extensions; also after a failed download that removed all weight files but left the folder.

Common situations: Cancelled/partial download leaving an empty model folder; extracting an archive into the wrong structure; pointing at a LoRA metadata folder with no weights; permissions masking files (PermissionError is swallowed in the search).

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of invoke-ai/InvokeAI@0b6a024f2f (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/5c80755cbe042ede. Report an issue: GitHub.