karatelabs/karate · warning

Failed to clean:

Error message

Failed to clean: 

What it means

The `karate clean` CLI deletes leftover backup directories (made during prior cleans) and reports per-directory failures as a warning: 'Failed to clean: <dirname>'. The underlying exception is swallowed, so the command keeps cleaning other directories and only the console message indicates trouble. It is a soft failure, not a thrown error.

Solutions

1. Close processes holding files in the named backup directory, then rerun `karate clean`
2. Manually delete the backup directory (rm -rf / rmdir /s /q)
3. Check and fix directory/file permissions before rerunning
4. Run the command as a user with write access to the workspace

Example fix

// before (locked dir)
karate clean  # Failed to clean: target-backup
// after (unix)
rm -rf ./target-backup && karate clean

// before karate clean (unix)
if [ -d target-backup ]; then lsof +D target-backup || true; fi
[ -w . ] && echo "workspace writable"

// wrapper script
karate clean 2>&1 | grep -q 'Failed to clean' && echo 'manual cleanup needed' || true

When it happens

Trigger: Running `karate clean` when a backup directory (e.g. a previously renamed target/output dir) cannot be deleted — files locked by another process, read-only permissions, or an OS-level delete failure inside deleteDirectory().

Common situations: Windows users with an editor, Maven daemon, or test process still holding files open in the backup dir; running without write permission on the workspace; stale backups from an aborted earlier run.

Related errors

• Failed to clean: karate-temp
• Failed to clean output directory:
• Failed to backup existing dir
• Failed to close JSONL event stream
• Failed to copy ext assets for

AI-assisted analysis of karatelabs/karate@a22eb90246 (2026-09-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/a033c3ecc3e0b421. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at karate-core/src/main/java/io/karatelabs/cli/CleanCommand.java:137

        Path parent = output.getParent();
        if (parent == null) {
            parent = Path.of(".");
        }
        String backupPrefix = outputDirName + "_";

        try {
            File parentDir = parent.toFile();
            File[] backupDirs = parentDir.listFiles((dir, name) ->
                    name.startsWith(backupPrefix) && new File(dir, name).isDirectory());

            if (backupDirs != null) {
                for (File backupDir : backupDirs) {
                    try {
                        deleteDirectory(backupDir);
                        Console.println(Console.info("Cleaned: " + backupDir.getName()));
                        cleanedCount++;
                    } catch (Exception e) {
                        Console.println(Console.warn("Failed to clean: " + backupDir.getName()));
                    }
                }
            }
        } catch (Exception e) {
            // Ignore errors when scanning for backups
        }

        // Clean karate-temp directory (Chrome user data, caches, etc.)
        // Located at <buildDir>/karate-temp (sibling to karate-reports)
        Path tempDir = parent.resolve("karate-temp");
        if (Files.exists(tempDir) && Files.isDirectory(tempDir)) {
            try {
                deleteDirectory(tempDir.toFile());
                Console.println(Console.info("Cleaned: karate-temp"));
                cleanedCount++;
            } catch (Exception e) {
                Console.println(Console.warn("Failed to clean: karate-temp"));
            }

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