What causes "watch file no longer exists: {}" in jdx/mise?

Let mise regenerate the cache (it is automatic after this bail) and re-run the command

watch file no longer exists: {}

Error message

watch file no longer exists: {}

What it means

During cache validation mise found a watched file that existed when the env was cached but is now gone, and its cached mtime was non-zero (so its absence isn't tolerated). Since the file's change can invalidate the cached env, mise bails instead of reusing stale data.

Source

Thrown at src/toolset/env_cache.rs:69

        .map_err(|e| eyre::eyre!("failed to create cipher: {}", e))?;

    let plaintext = cipher
        .decrypt(&nonce, ciphertext)
        .map_err(|e| eyre::eyre!("decryption failed: {}", e))?;
    Ok(plaintext)
}

fn validate_watch_files(watch_files: &[PathBuf], expected_mtimes: &[u64]) -> Result<()> {
    if watch_files.len() != expected_mtimes.len() {
        bail!("watch file count mismatch");
    }
    for (path, expected_mtime) in watch_files.iter().zip(expected_mtimes.iter()) {
        if !path.exists() {
            // mtime=0 means file didn't exist when cached - skip if still doesn't exist
            if *expected_mtime == 0 {
                continue;
            }
            bail!("watch file no longer exists: {}", path.display());
        }
        if let Some(current_mtime) = get_file_mtime(path) {
            if current_mtime != *expected_mtime {
                bail!(
                    "watch file mtime changed: {} (expected: {}, current: {})",
                    path.display(),
                    expected_mtime,
                    current_mtime
                );
            }
        } else {
            bail!("could not get mtime for watch file: {}", path.display());
        }
    }
    Ok(())
}

/// Represents the cached environment data

View on GitHub (pinned to afd2eddd3a)

Solutions

Let mise regenerate the cache (it is automatic after this bail) and re-run the command
Recreate the deleted/moved watch file if it was intentional to keep it
Re-run `mise install` or regenerate any file your config expects to exist
Remove the stale cache entry with `mise cache clear`

Example fix

// before: .env deleted, cache still references it
rm .env && mise run dev  # watch file no longer exists: /proj/.env
// after: recreate or update config to drop the file dependency
mise run dev   # cache rebuilt without missing file

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

// verify watched files exist before expecting cache hits
for (const f of watchFiles) { if (!fs.existsSync(f)) regenerateOrRecreate(f); }

Type guard

const watchedFilesExist = (files) => files.every(f => fs.existsSync(f));

Try / catch

try { loadEnvCache() } catch (e) { if (String(e).includes('watch file no longer exists')) { recreateMissingFile(); loadEnvCache(); } else { throw e; } }

Prevention

Don't delete config/env files your mise setup watches without clearing cache
Use git checkout patterns that preserve expected env files
Regenerate required files before running mise commands
Keep .env and config files in stable locations

When it happens

Trigger: env_cache::load validates watch files and path.exists() returns false while expected_mtime != 0 — i.e. a file listed in the cache (a config file, env file, tool version file) was deleted or moved since the cache was written.

Common situations: Deleting or renaming a .env, mise.toml, or .tool-versions file that the cached env depended on; a git checkout/clean removing a generated env file; moving a project directory.

Understand the failure class

Background: "File not found" and ENOENT errors: why libraries can't find a file that should exist — this error's family across 50 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of jdx/mise@afd2eddd3a (2026-09-09). Data as JSON: /api/errors/50876de85751e675. Report an issue: GitHub.