What causes "could not find your script dir '%s'" in joewalnes/websocketd?

Verify the directory exists at the exact path: `ls -ld `

could not find your script dir '%s'

Error message

could not find your script dir '%s'

What it means

resolveScriptDir stats the absolutized --dir path; when os.Stat fails (typically ENOENT), the CLI reports it could not find the script directory. This is the standard 'you passed a --dir that does not exist' failure and prevents starting a server that would have nothing valid to serve.

Source

Thrown at config.go:223

			return "", nil, fmt.Errorf("unable to locate specified COMMAND '%s' in OS path", args[0])
		}
		return path, args[1:], nil
	}
	return "", nil, nil
}

// resolveScriptDir validates and resolves the script directory path.
func resolveScriptDir(dir string) (string, error) {
	if dir == "" {
		return "", nil
	}
	absDir, err := filepath.Abs(dir)
	if err != nil {
		return "", fmt.Errorf("could not resolve absolute path to dir '%s'", dir)
	}
	inf, err := os.Stat(absDir)
	if err != nil {
		return "", fmt.Errorf("could not find your script dir '%s'", dir)
	}
	if !inf.IsDir() {
		return "", fmt.Errorf("did you mean to specify COMMAND instead of --dir '%s'?", dir)
	}
	return absDir, nil
}

// validateDir checks that a directory path exists and is a directory.
func validateDir(dir, label string) error {
	if dir == "" {
		return nil
	}
	inf, err := os.Stat(dir)
	if err != nil || !inf.IsDir() {
		return fmt.Errorf("your %s '%s' is not pointing to an accessible directory", label, dir)
	}
	return nil
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 7a8683dc7f)

Solutions

Verify the directory exists at the exact path: `ls -ld <dir>`
Use an absolute path in --dir to remove cwd dependence
Fix the deployment (volume mount, systemd WorkingDirectory=) so the directory is present at startup

Example fix

// before
websocketd --dir=./scriptz --port=8080
// after
websocketd --dir=/srv/app/scripts --port=8080

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

dir := "/srv/app/scripts"
if inf, err := os.Stat(dir); err != nil || !inf.IsDir() {
	log.Fatalf("script dir missing: %s", dir)
}
exec.Command("websocketd", "--dir="+dir, "--port=8080").Run()

Try / catch

out, err := exec.Command("websocketd", "--dir="+dir).CombinedOutput()
if err != nil && strings.Contains(string(out), "could not find your script dir") {
	log.Fatalf("fix --dir value %q: does not exist", dir)
}

Prevention

Use absolute paths in service definitions
Verify volume mounts exist before starting containers
Check deploy scripts for typos with `ls -ld "$DIR"` first
Set WorkingDirectory explicitly when using relative paths

When it happens

Trigger: `websocketd --dir=./scriptz ...` (typo); --dir pointing at a path deleted or renamed before startup; relative --dir resolved against a different cwd than the developer assumed (e.g. systemd unit with unexpected WorkingDirectory).

Common situations: Typos in deploy scripts; containers where the volume mounting the scripts dir is missing; packaging changes that moved the scripts directory; relative paths breaking when the service manager sets a different cwd.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of joewalnes/websocketd@7a8683dc7f (2026-09-03). Data as JSON: /api/errors/add29a8bfc9488f2. Report an issue: GitHub.