n8n-io/n8n · warning

Third-party licenses file not found

Error message

Third-party licenses file not found

What it means

Not an thrown Error object but a plain-text 404 response body from GET /third-party-licenses. getThirdPartyLicenses reads THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.md from CLI_DIR and, when the file is missing or unreadable from disk (e.g. a broken install or packaging step that did not ship the file), it catches the read failure and returns HTTP 404 with this string. It indicates the deployment artifact is incomplete, not an auth or request problem.

Solutions

1. Run the build/license-extraction step that produces THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.md so it lands in CLI_DIR.
2. Ensure the deployment image copies the generated file into the CLI distribution directory.
3. Verify CLI_DIR resolution on the host if a custom working dir is set.

// Optional: probe for the file's existence is not exposed; treat 404 as non-fatal.
async function getLicensesSafely(api) {
  const res = await api.get('/third-party-licenses');
  return res.status === 404 ? null : res.body;
}

try {
  await api.get('/third-party-licenses');
} catch (e) {
  if (e.status === 404 && /Third-party licenses file not found/.test(e.message)) {
    // regenerate/bundle the asset; surface a soft 'not available' in the UI
  } else { throw e; }
}

When it happens

Trigger: GET /third-party-licenses when the THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.md file is absent from CLI_DIR at runtime.

Common situations: Build step that generates/bundles the licenses file was skipped or failed; a slim/custom deployment image omitted the asset; CLI_DIR resolves to an unexpected path.

Related errors

• Failed to load headers file
• Agent " " requires a model
• Agent " " requires instructions
• Failed to parse node types from
• Local computer-use build not found at

AI-assisted analysis of n8n-io/n8n@5ac6606e81 (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/97dcd5acda69fcee. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at packages/cli/src/controllers/third-party-licenses.controller.ts:23

import { CLI_DIR } from '@/constants';

@RestController('/third-party-licenses')
export class ThirdPartyLicensesController {
	/**
	 * Get third-party licenses content
	 * Requires authentication to access
	 */
	@Get('/')
	async getThirdPartyLicenses(_: Request, res: Response) {
		const licenseFile = resolve(CLI_DIR, 'THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.md');

		try {
			const content = await readFile(licenseFile, 'utf-8');
			res.setHeader('Content-Type', 'text/markdown; charset=utf-8');
			res.send(content);
		} catch {
			res.status(404).send('Third-party licenses file not found');
		}
	}
}

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