javan/whenever · error

[fail] Can't find file: #{@options[:file]}

Error message

[fail] Can't find file: #{@options[:file]}

What it means

The whenever CLI defaults to loading config/schedule.rb relative to the current working directory. In initialize it checks that the file exists; if it does not (and you are not running --clear-crontab, which skips the check), it warns and calls return_or_exit(false), exiting with status 1 in the default console mode. This is a hard exit, not an exception, so it typically surfaces as a failed deploy step or shell command.

Source

Thrown at lib/whenever/command_line.rb:19

require 'fileutils'

module Whenever
  class CommandLine
    def self.execute(options={})
      new(options).run
    end

    def initialize(options={})
      @options = options

      @options[:crontab_command] ||= 'crontab'
      @options[:file]            ||= 'config/schedule.rb'
      @options[:cut]             ||= 0
      @options[:identifier]      ||= default_identifier
      @options[:console]    = true if @options[:console].nil?

      if !File.exist?(@options[:file]) && @options[:clear].nil?
        warn("[fail] Can't find file: #{@options[:file]}")
        return_or_exit(false)
      end

      if [@options[:update], @options[:write], @options[:clear]].compact.length > 1
        warn("[fail] Can only update, write or clear. Choose one.")
        return_or_exit(false)
      end

      unless @options[:cut].to_s =~ /[0-9]*/
        warn("[fail] Can't cut negative lines from the crontab #{options[:cut]}")
        return_or_exit(false)
      end
      @options[:cut] = @options[:cut].to_i

      @timestamp = Time.now.to_s
    end

    def run

View on GitHub (pinned to 756163ed1a)

Solutions

1. cd to the application root (the directory containing config/) before running whenever.
2. Point at the file explicitly: whenever -f config/schedule.rb, or pass an absolute path.
3. Generate the file in a new project: `wheneverize .` creates config/schedule.rb.
4. To tear down a crontab after the schedule file is gone, use whenever --clear-crontab — the existence check is skipped for clear.

Example fix

# before (run from wrong directory)
cd /home/deploy && whenever --update-crontab myapp

# after
bash -c 'cd /srv/myapp/current && whenever --update-crontab myapp'
# or point at the file directly
whenever -f /srv/myapp/current/config/schedule.rb --update-crontab myapp

schedule = File.expand_path('config/schedule.rb', app_root)
abort('no schedule file at ' + schedule + '; run `wheneverize .` or pass -f') unless File.exist?(schedule)
`whenever -f #{schedule} --update-crontab myapp`

def schedule_present?(path)
  File.exist?(File.expand_path(path))
end

begin
  Whenever::CommandLine.execute(file: schedule)
rescue SystemExit => e
  abort('whenever exited with status ' + e.status.to_s) unless e.success?
end

When it happens

Trigger: Running `whenever` or `whenever --update-crontab` from a directory other than the Rails/app root (the default path config/schedule.rb resolves against cwd); -f/--load-file pointing at a typo'd or non-existent path; a fresh project where `wheneverize .` was never run; a schedule file kept at a non-default location without passing -f.

Common situations: SSH'd into a server and running whenever from $HOME instead of the release directory; CI pipelines whose working directory is not the repo root; deploy scripts invoking whenever without cd-ing to the app path; new apps where someone added the gem to the Gemfile but never generated the schedule file.

Related errors

• [fail] Can only update, write or clear. Choose one.
• [fail] Can't cut negative lines from the crontab #{options[:
• :command, :path, & :flags are required
• You cannot specify an ':at' when using the shortcuts for tim
• Time must be in minutes or higher

AI-assisted analysis of javan/whenever@756163ed1a (2026-08-21). Data as JSON: /api/errors/882a6be728ce0d73. Report an issue: GitHub.