janhq/jan · error · Error

Invalid path or file

Error message

Invalid path or file ${path}

What it means

Input validation at the start of the install-from-archive method: the path must exist on disk AND end in either '.tar.gz' or '.zip'. If either condition fails, the method throws before attempting any decompression or parsing.

Solutions

1. Ensure the archive is a .tar.gz (Linux/macOS) or .zip (Windows) file matching the expected naming convention.
2. Verify the file exists at the given path before invoking the install method.
3. If you have a different archive format, re-package or re-download in a supported format.

import fs from 'node:fs'

function isValidArchivePath(path: string): boolean {
  return fs.existsSync(path) && (path.endsWith('.tar.gz') || path.endsWith('.zip'))
}

// Before calling install:
if (!isValidArchivePath(path)) {
  throw new Error(`Path must be an existing .tar.gz or .zip file: ${path}`)
}

function isSupportedArchivePath(path: string): boolean {
  return path.endsWith('.tar.gz') || path.endsWith('.zip')
}

When it happens

Trigger: The user-supplied path points to a non-existent file; the file exists but has a different extension (.7z, .tar.xz, .exe, no extension); the path has a typo; the file was deleted between selection and installation.

Common situations: User selects a .7z or .tar.xz archive that the extension does not support; file picker was pointed at a directory instead of an archive; a download was interrupted and the partial file has a .tmp extension.

Related errors

• Failed to parse archive name
• Invalid backend archive name
• Not a supported backend archive! Missing llama-server…
• Failed to decompress archive
• Invalid backend string format

AI-assisted analysis of janhq/jan@fad3f12a14 (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/44e25a257921d3ba. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at extensions/llamacpp-extension/src/index.ts:2859

    // Match prefix (optional), llama, main (optional), version (b####-hash),
    // optional cudart-llama, bin, backend details
    // Examples:
    // - k_llama-main-b4314-09c61e1-bin-win-cuda-12.8-x64-avx2.zip
    // - ik_llama-main-b4314-09c61e1-cudart-llama-bin-win-cuda-12.8-x64-avx512.zip
    // - llama-b7037-bin-win-cuda-12.4-x64.zip (legacy format)
    const re =
      /^(.+?[-_])?llama(?:-main)?-(b\d+(?:-[a-f0-9]+)?)(?:-cudart-llama)?-bin-(.+?)\.(?:tar\.gz|zip)$/

    const archiveName = await basename(path)
    logger.info(`Installing backend from path: ${path}`)

    if (
      !(await fs.existsSync(path)) ||
      (!path.endsWith('tar.gz') && !path.endsWith('zip'))
    ) {
      logger.error(`Invalid path or file ${path}`)
      throw new Error(`Invalid path or file ${path}`)
    }

    const match = re.exec(archiveName)

    if (!match) {
      throw new Error(
        `Failed to parse archive name: ${archiveName}. Expected format: [Optional prefix-]llama-<version>-bin-<backend>.(tar.gz|zip)`
      )
    }

    const [, prefix, version, backend] = match

    if (!version || !backend) {
      throw new Error(`Invalid backend archive name: ${archiveName}`)
    }

    // Include prefix in the backend identifier if present
    const backendIdentifier = prefix ? `${prefix}${backend}` : backend

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