microsoft/autogen · error · DirectoryNotFoundException

Could not find directory for assembly '{asm}'.

Error message

Could not find directory for assembly '{asm}'.

What it means

The seed-memory tool throws DirectoryNotFoundException when Path.GetDirectoryName(Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location) returns null/empty. Assembly.Location is empty for assemblies loaded from a bundle — most notably single-file publishes and some trimming/AOT scenarios — so the tool cannot locate the PDF file it is supposed to import into semantic memory.

Source

Thrown at dotnet/samples/dev-team/seed-memory/Program.cs:39

                .AddDebug();
        });

        var memoryBuilder = new MemoryBuilder();
        var memory = memoryBuilder.WithLoggerFactory(loggerFactory)
                    .WithQdrantMemoryStore(kernelSettings.QdrantEndpoint, 1536)
                    .WithAzureOpenAITextEmbeddingGeneration(kernelSettings.EmbeddingDeploymentOrModelId, kernelSettings.Endpoint, kernelSettings.ApiKey)
                    .Build();

        await ImportDocumentAsync(memory, WafFileName).ConfigureAwait(false);
    }

    public static async Task ImportDocumentAsync(ISemanticTextMemory memory, string filename)
    {
        var asm = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly();
        var currentDirectory = Path.GetDirectoryName(asm.Location);
        if (currentDirectory is null)
        {
            throw new DirectoryNotFoundException($"Could not find directory for assembly '{asm}'.");
        }

        var filePath = Path.Combine(currentDirectory, filename);
        using var pdfDocument = PdfDocument.Open(File.OpenRead(filePath));
        var pages = pdfDocument.GetPages();
        foreach (var page in pages)
        {
            try
            {
                var text = ContentOrderTextExtractor.GetText(page);
                var descr = text.Take(100);
                await memory.SaveInformationAsync(
                    collection: "waf",
                    text: text,
                    id: $"{Guid.NewGuid()}",
                    description: $"Document: {descr}").ConfigureAwait(false);
            }
            catch (Exception ex)

View on GitHub (pinned to 027ecf0a37)

Solutions

1. Prefer AppContext.BaseDirectory (the directory of the app binary, reliable in single-file mode) instead of Assembly.Location.
2. Or run the tool via 'dotnet run' / normal (non-single-file) publish while seeding memory, then deploy.
3. Ensure the WAF PDF file (WafFileName) is copied to the output directory (CopyToOutputDirectory in the csproj) so it sits next to the resolved base path.
4. If embedded, read the resource stream instead of File.OpenRead on a disk path.

Example fix

// before
var asm = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly();
var currentDirectory = Path.GetDirectoryName(asm.Location);
if (currentDirectory is null) { throw new DirectoryNotFoundException(...); }

// after
var currentDirectory = AppContext.BaseDirectory; // valid even for single-file publish
var filePath = Path.Combine(currentDirectory, filename);

var baseDir = AppContext.BaseDirectory; // always valid, even for single-file publish
if (!File.Exists(Path.Combine(baseDir, filename)))
{
    Console.Error.WriteLine($"'{filename}' not found next to the executable in {baseDir}.");
    return;
}

try { await ImportDocumentAsync(memory, WafFileName); } catch (DirectoryNotFoundException) { Console.Error.WriteLine("Assembly location unavailable (single-file publish?). Seeding must run from a normal publish or use AppContext.BaseDirectory."); }

When it happens

Trigger: Running seed-memory after 'dotnet publish -p:PublishSingleFile=true'; running the tool from a single-file executable on Linux/macOS; any context where the assembly is loaded from memory rather than a file on disk.

Common situations: DevTeam sample deployed as a self-contained single-file binary; CI packaging step publishes single-file and runs the seed tool in the pipeline; .NET 5+ single-file behavior change vs old .NET Framework where Location always worked.

Related errors

• Please set OPENAI_API_KEY environment variable.
• Please set ANTHROPIC_API_KEY environment variable.
• Missing ANTHROPIC_API_KEY environment variable.
• Missing ANTHROPIC_API_KEY environment variable.
• Please set OPENAI_API_KEY environment variable.

AI-assisted analysis of microsoft/autogen@027ecf0a37 (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/bb8f74a8f7bdd5b4. Report an issue: GitHub.