jdx/mise · error

{message}\ncompilation is disabled

Error message

{message}\ncompilation is disabled

What it means

When installing a precompiled Node.js build with core:node, mise first tries to fetch a prebuilt archive. If none exists and the node flavor (e.g. a non-standard build flavor) is not found, and compilation is not enabled via node.compile, installation is aborted with the flavor-specific message plus 'compilation is disabled'. mise throws this because it cannot proceed without either a prebuilt archive or source compilation.

Source

Thrown at src/plugins/core/node.rs:148

                warn_patches_not_applied();
                Ok(())
            }
            FetchOutcome::NotFound => {
                if ctx.locked {
                    if let Some(message) = node_flavor_not_found_message(opts) {
                        bail!("{message}\nlocked mode requires the locked precompiled artifact")
                    }
                    bail!(
                        "precompiled node archive not found and locked mode requires the locked precompiled artifact"
                    )
                } else if Settings::get().node_compile(CompilePurpose::Inspect) != Some(false) {
                    if let Some(message) = node_flavor_not_found_message(opts) {
                        warn!("{message}");
                    }
                    self.install_compiling(ctx, tv, opts).await
                } else {
                    if let Some(message) = node_flavor_not_found_message(opts) {
                        bail!("{message}\ncompilation is disabled")
                    }
                    bail!("precompiled node archive not found and compilation is disabled")
                }
            }
        }
    }

    async fn install_windows(
        &self,
        ctx: &InstallContext,
        tv: &mut ToolVersion,
        opts: &BuildOpts,
    ) -> Result<()> {
        match self
            .fetch_binary(ctx, tv, opts, || self.extract_zip(opts, ctx))
            .await?
        {
            FetchOutcome::Downloaded => {

View on GitHub (pinned to afd2eddd3a)

Solutions

  1. Enable source compilation: `mise settings node.compile=true`
  2. Choose a Node version that has a precompiled build for your platform (check nodejs.org dist index for <version>/<platform-arch>)
  3. Install a matching toolchain/OS so a prebuilt archive exists (e.g. use glibc Linux or macOS instead of an exotic target)

Example fix

// before (mise.toml)
[tools]
node = "18.0.0" // prebuilt missing on this platform

// after
[tools]
node = "18.18.2" // version with published prebuilt archive
[settings]
node.compile = true // alternative: allow source build
Defensive patterns

Strategy: fallback

Validate before calling

#!/usr/bin/env bash
ver=$(mise ls-remote node | grep -Fx "22.11.0")
curl -fsIL "https://nodejs.org/dist/v${ver}/node-v${ver}-$(node -p 'process.platform')-$(node -p 'process.arch').tar.gz" >/dev/null && echo "prebuilt available" || mise settings set node.compile true

Try / catch

if ! mise install node@"$VER" 2>&1 | grep -q 'compilation is disabled'; then
  echo "installed"
else
  mise settings set node.compile true && mise install node@"$VER"
fi

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: Calling `mise install node@<version>` (or a .tool-versions/.mise.toml pin) for a version/flavor whose precompiled archive returns 404 from nodejs.org, while settings node.compile is false (the default).

Common situations: Installing an old or very new Node version whose prebuilt binary for the current platform was never published or was removed; using an unusual node flavor (e.g. a specific release flavor) on an uncommon OS/arch; offline mirrors missing that archive.

Understand the failure class

Background: 'Could not be found', 'does not exist', 'not found in database': the resource-not-found family when an ID, slug, key, or URI lookup comes back empty — this error's family across 20 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of jdx/mise@afd2eddd3a (2026-09-09). Data as JSON: /api/errors/111b159942b93605. Report an issue: GitHub.