langgenius/dify · error · Error

cannot resolve %LOCALAPPDATA% on Windows

Error message

cannot resolve %LOCALAPPDATA% on Windows

What it means

Companion to [54]: a bare Error from the win32 cacheDir (sys/index.ts:107). The condition is identical because cacheDir also calls appDataDir(), which is `APPDATA ?? LOCALAPPDATA`. Practically this means: if APPDATA is set, cacheDir succeeds even though its error message names LOCALAPPDATA — the message is somewhat misleading. Only when BOTH are unset/empty does cacheDir throw. The cache dir holds transient data (downloads, temp) and is less critical than config, but its absence still blocks commands that need it.

Source

Thrown at cli/src/sys/index.ts:107

  }),
  darwin: () => ({
    id: () => 'darwin',
    configDir: () => join(homedir(), '.config', SUBDIR),
    cacheDir: () => join(homedir(), 'Library', 'Caches', SUBDIR),
    atomicReplace: posixAtomicReplace,
  }),
  win32: () => ({
    id: () => 'win32',
    configDir: () => {
      const appData = appDataDir()
      if (appData === undefined || appData === '')
        throw new Error('cannot resolve %APPDATA% on Windows')
      return join(appData, SUBDIR)
    },
    cacheDir: () => {
      const appData = appDataDir()
      if (appData === undefined || appData === '')
        throw new Error('cannot resolve %LOCALAPPDATA% on Windows')
      return join(appData, SUBDIR)
    },
    atomicReplace: win32AtomicReplace,
  }),
}

const defaultPlatformFactory: PlatformFactory = () => ({
  id: () => platform(),
  configDir: () => join(homedir(), '.config', SUBDIR),
  cacheDir: () => join(homedir(), '.cache', SUBDIR),
  atomicReplace: posixAtomicReplace,
})

export function resolvePlatform(): Platform {
  return (platformImpls[platform()] ?? defaultPlatformFactory)()
}

View on GitHub (pinned to ef8544b173)

Solutions

1. Set APPDATA (and LOCALAPPDATA) as described in [54]; setting APPDATA alone satisfies appDataDir for both config and cache.
2. Prefer setting both for clarity: APPDATA=...Roaming, LOCALAPPDATA=...Local.
3. For service accounts, load the user profile or set the vars in the task environment.
4. Note: difyctl's win32 factory does not honor XDG_CACHE_HOME; you must set the Windows env vars.

Example fix

# before — cache dir resolution fails on Windows
> difyctl <cmd>
Error: cannot resolve %LOCALAPPDATA% on Windows

# after — set both Windows profile env vars
$env:LOCALAPPDATA = "$env:USERPROFILE\AppData\Local"
$env:APPDATA = "$env:USERPROFILE\AppData\Roaming"
difyctl <cmd>

function assertWindowsCacheDir(): void {
  if (process.platform !== 'win32') return
  // appDataDir falls back APPDATA ?? LOCALAPPDATA, so either satisfies cacheDir
  const appData = process.env.APPDATA ?? process.env.LOCALAPPDATA
  if (appData === undefined || appData === '') {
    throw new Error('set LOCALAPPDATA (or APPDATA) before running difyctl on Windows')
  }
}

When it happens

Trigger: Same broken-profile conditions as [54]: Windows service accounts, Task Scheduler without profile, minimal containers, non-interactive SSH — all with both APPDATA and LOCALAPPDATA missing. Because appDataDir falls back APPDATA→LOCALAPPDATA, the LOCALAPPDATA-only check in the message never actually runs independently.

Common situations: Identical to [54]: stripped Windows environments, SYSTEM account, containers, CI without profile load.

Related errors

• cannot resolve %APPDATA% on Windows

AI-assisted analysis of langgenius/dify@ef8544b173 (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/08fc6ed401f8ecd1. Report an issue: GitHub.