n8n-io/n8n · error · Error

claude not on PATH

Error message

claude not on PATH

What it means

The build-mcp-manifest CLI drives the Anthropic Claude CLI (claude -p) to build workflows via an MCP server. Before doing any work, main() (line 443) runs `command -v claude` to verify the binary is reachable. If it is not found, the error is thrown immediately — there is no fallback builder, so proceeding would only produce confusing downstream failures.

Source

Thrown at packages/@n8n/instance-ai/evaluations/cli/build-mcp-manifest.ts:446

}

/** Keep only slugs whose `datasets` includes `tier`, mirroring eval:instance-ai --tier semantics. */
function filterSlugsByTier(workflowDir: string, slugs: string[], tier: string): string[] {
	return slugs.filter((slug) => readDatasets(workflowDir, slug).includes(tier));
}

async function main(): Promise<void> {
	const parsed = parseArgs(process.argv.slice(2));
	if (parsed.helpRequested) {
		process.stdout.write(HELP);
		return;
	}
	const args = parsed.args!;

	try {
		execSync('command -v claude', { stdio: 'ignore' });
	} catch {
		throw new Error('claude not on PATH');
	}

	// Repo root scopes the staged MCP config (cwd fallback). Best-effort: the disk
	// source resolves/validates its own test-case dir below; langtracer pulls cases
	// over MCP, so it needs no repo at all and can run outside the n8n checkout.
	let repoRoot: string | undefined;
	try {
		repoRoot = execSync('git rev-parse --show-toplevel', { stdio: ['ignore', 'pipe', 'ignore'] })
			.toString()
			.trim();
	} catch {
		repoRoot = undefined;
	}

	if (args.buildCwd && !existsSync(args.buildCwd)) {
		throw new Error(`--build-cwd directory does not exist: ${args.buildCwd}`);
	}

View on GitHub (pinned to 5ac6606e81)

Solutions

1. Install the Claude Code CLI (see https://docs.claude.com/claude-code)
2. Verify it is reachable: command -v claude or which claude
3. If installed via npm globally, ensure the global bin directory is on PATH
4. If using nvm, activate the correct node version before running

import { execSync } from 'child_process';
try {
  execSync('command -v claude', { stdio: 'ignore' });
} catch {
  throw new Error('claude not on PATH — install Claude Code CLI first');
}

When it happens

Trigger: Running `pnpm eval:build-mcp-manifest` on a machine where the Claude Code CLI is not installed or is not on the PATH. This includes CI environments, fresh machines, and non-interactive shells where PATH differs from the interactive profile.

Common situations: Fresh machine without Claude Code installed. The Claude CLI was installed under a different nvm/node version. PATH is not exported correctly in non-interactive shell sessions (cron, CI). The binary name changed in a newer version.

Related errors

• Disk source needs the n8n repo (run from inside it) or --wor
• LangSmith client not initialized - check LANGSMITH_API_KEY
• --max-attempts must be >= 1
• --source langtracer requires --suite <slug>
• Missing value for ${flag}

AI-assisted analysis of n8n-io/n8n@5ac6606e81 (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/1e44cd01fe703789. Report an issue: GitHub.