microsoft/aspire · error · InvalidOperationException

Bundle layout not found. Cannot perform NuGet restore in…

Error message

Bundle layout not found. Cannot perform NuGet restore in bundle mode.

What it means

BundleNuGetService.RestorePackagesAsync restores integration packages through the extracted bundle. It obtains a layout either from the bundle service lease or via ILayoutDiscovery.DiscoverLayout(); when both yield null, it throws this InvalidOperationException because restore in bundle mode requires a valid bundle layout directory.

Solutions

Reinstall the Aspire CLI bundle to ensure a valid, extractable layout
Verify the extraction/install directories exist and are writable by the current user
Run the CLI normally once so the bundle gets extracted before restore is invoked
Check environment/paths that layout discovery relies on; update the CLI if the issue persists

Defensive patterns

Strategy: fallback

Validate before calling

// Precheck that a bundle layout is discoverable before restore
var layout = layoutDiscovery.DiscoverLayout();
if (layout is null)
{
    // reinstall/extract bundle before invoking restore
}

Try / catch

try
{
    await service.RestorePackagesAsync(packages, workingDir);
}
catch (InvalidOperationException ex) when (ex.Message.Contains("Bundle layout not found"))
{
    // repair bundle installation, then retry restore
}

Prevention

Ensure the CLI bundle is fully installed and extracted before automated restores
Grant write access to the extraction/cache directories used by the CLI
Don't run restore flows from stripped/portable copies of the CLI lacking a layout
Reinstall after OS-level cleanups that remove the bundle cache

When it happens

Trigger: Calling RestorePackagesAsync (used by AppHost integration probes / manifest restore flows) when EnsureExtractedAndAcquireLayoutAsync returns no lease and DiscoverLayout() finds no layout — i.e. no valid extracted bundle exists.

Common situations: CLI installed without a complete bundle; extraction directory wiped or unwritable; DiscoverLayout unable to locate the install layout due to a moved/deleted install path or environment mismatch.

Understand the failure class

Background: 'Could not be found', 'does not exist', 'not found in database': the resource-not-found family when an ID, slug, key, or URI lookup comes back empty — this error's family across 20 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of microsoft/aspire@25830f84bd (2026-09-16). Data as JSON: /api/errors/5856d84454357312. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at src/Aspire.Cli/NuGet/BundleNuGetService.cs:87

    public async Task<string> RestorePackagesAsync(
        IEnumerable<(string Id, string Version)> packages,
        string workingDirectory,
        string targetFramework = "net10.0",
        string? runtimeIdentifier = null,
        IEnumerable<string>? sources = null,
        string? nugetConfigPath = null,
        CancellationToken ct = default)
    {
        ArgumentException.ThrowIfNullOrWhiteSpace(workingDirectory);

        using var layoutLease = _bundleService is null
            ? null
            : await _bundleService.EnsureExtractedAndAcquireLayoutAsync("cli", "nuget-restore", ct).ConfigureAwait(false);
        var layout = layoutLease?.Layout ?? _layoutDiscovery.DiscoverLayout();
        if (layout is null)
        {
            throw new InvalidOperationException("Bundle layout not found. Cannot perform NuGet restore in bundle mode.");
        }

        var managedPath = layout.GetManagedPath();
        if (managedPath is null || !File.Exists(managedPath))
        {
            throw new InvalidOperationException("aspire-managed not found in layout.");
        }

        var packageList = packages.ToList();
        if (packageList.Count == 0)
        {
            throw new ArgumentException("At least one package is required", nameof(packages));
        }

        // Compute a hash for the package set to create a unique restore location.
        var packageHash = ComputePackageHash(packageList, targetFramework, runtimeIdentifier, managedPath, sources);
        var restoreCacheDirectory = GetPackageRestoreCacheDirectory(workingDirectory);
        var restoreDir = Path.Combine(restoreCacheDirectory, packageHash);

View on GitHub (pinned to 25830f84bd)