What causes "File does not exist at path {$path}." in laravel/framework?

Guard the read with File::exists($path) or File::isFile($path) before calling get().

laravel/framework · error · FileNotFoundException

File does not exist at path

Error message

File does not exist at path {$path}.

What it means

Thrown by Filesystem::get($path) when is_file($path) returns false — the path does not point to an existing regular file. This is the low-level Illuminate\Filesystem\Filesystem (not the cloud adapter); it reads local disk. The exception is Illuminate\Contracts\Filesystem\FileNotFoundException.

Solutions

Guard the read with File::exists($path) or File::isFile($path) before calling get().
Correct the path: prefer absolute paths built via base_path()/storage_path()/app_path().
In tests, use Illuminate\Filesystem::cleanDirectory/copy fixtures so the file actually exists before assertion.
Catch FileNotFoundException where missing files are a legitimate runtime condition (e.g., optional cache).

Example fix

// before
$contents = File::get($path);

// after
if (File::exists($path)) {
    $contents = File::get($path);
}

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

use Illuminate\Filesystem\Filesystem;
if (app(Filesystem::class)->exists($path)) {
    return app(Filesystem::class)->get($path);
}

Type guard

function isReadableFile(string $path): bool {
    return is_file($path) && is_readable($path);
}

Try / catch

use Illuminate\Contracts\Filesystem\FileNotFoundException;
try {
    $contents = File::get($path);
} catch (FileNotFoundException $e) {
    report($e);
    return $fallback;
}

Prevention

Always check File::exists() before File::get().
Prefer absolute paths via storage_path()/base_path().
In tests, create fixture files in setUp().
Treat FileNotFoundException as recoverable for optional files.

When it happens

Trigger: Calling File::get($path) (or app('files')->get($path)) where $path is missing, is a directory, is a broken symlink, or points outside reachable storage due to a wrong base path.

Common situations: Reading config/cache files that were cleared; wrong relative path during testing; file deleted between existence check and read (TOCTOU); container path not mounted; typo in storage_path()/base_path() concatenation.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of laravel/framework@e0f6eb3518 (2026-08-11). Data as JSON: /api/errors/2102d86a0727aa68. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at src/Illuminate/Filesystem/Filesystem.php:58

        return ! $this->exists($path);
    }

    /**
     * Get the contents of a file.
     *
     * @param  string  $path
     * @param  bool  $lock
     * @return string
     *
     * @throws \Illuminate\Contracts\Filesystem\FileNotFoundException
     */
    public function get($path, $lock = false)
    {
        if ($this->isFile($path)) {
            return $lock ? $this->sharedGet($path) : file_get_contents($path);
        }

        throw new FileNotFoundException("File does not exist at path {$path}.");
    }

    /**
     * Get the contents of a file as decoded JSON.
     *
     * @param  string  $path
     * @param  int  $flags
     * @param  bool  $lock
     * @return array
     *
     * @throws \Illuminate\Contracts\Filesystem\FileNotFoundException
     */
    public function json($path, $flags = 0, $lock = false)
    {
        return json_decode($this->get($path, $lock), true, 512, $flags);
    }

    /**

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