Diff bundle not found. Expected {} or pass a path to a bundl

Error message

Diff bundle not found. Expected {} or pass a path to a bundle file.

What it means

Thrown by read_bundle (src/changes.rs:580) when the JSON bundle file for the given id cannot be found at the expected bundle directory location (<bundle_dir>/<id>.json). The error message includes the full path checked so the user can locate the file manually or pass an explicit path instead.

Source

Thrown at src/changes.rs:580

fn write_bundle(bundle: &DiffBundle) -> Result<PathBuf> {
    let diffs_dir = bundle_dir()?;
    let path = diffs_dir.join(format!("{}.json", bundle.hash));
    let payload = serde_json::to_string_pretty(bundle).context("failed to serialize bundle")?;
    fs::write(&path, payload).with_context(|| format!("failed to write {}", path.display()))?;
    Ok(path)
}

fn read_bundle(id: &str) -> Result<(DiffBundle, Option<PathBuf>)> {
    let candidate = PathBuf::from(id);
    let path = if candidate.exists() {
        candidate
    } else {
        bundle_dir()?.join(format!("{}.json", id))
    };

    if !path.exists() {
        trace(&format!("bundle lookup failed: {}", path.display()));
        bail!(
            "Diff bundle not found. Expected {} or pass a path to a bundle file.",
            path.display()
        );
    }

    trace(&format!("bundle read: {}", path.display()));
    let data =
        fs::read_to_string(&path).with_context(|| format!("failed to read {}", path.display()))?;
    let bundle: DiffBundle = serde_json::from_str(&data)
        .with_context(|| format!("failed to parse {}", path.display()))?;

    let expected = if bundle.version <= 1 {
        let payload = DiffBundlePayloadV1 {
            version: bundle.version,
            created_at: bundle.created_at.clone(),
            repo_root: bundle.repo_root.clone(),
            base_ref: bundle.base_ref.clone(),
            diff: bundle.diff.clone(),

View on GitHub (pinned to a747e741ae)

Solutions

List the bundle directory and confirm the exact bundle id: the message shows the expected path, check that file exists.
Pass the full path to the bundle file directly instead of the id (e.g. `f unroll ~/bundles/abc123.json`).
Recreate the bundle in the source repo with the current flow, then unroll it.
Copy the bundle file from the machine/repo where it was created into the expected bundle directory.

Example fix

// before
$ f unroll abc123
Error: Diff bundle not found. Expected /root/.flow/bundles/abc123.json or pass a path...
// after: pass an explicit path
$ f unroll ~/bundles/abc123.json

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

// Shell: check the bundle exists before unrolling
BUNDLE="${1:?usage: f unroll <id-or-path>}"
[[ -f "$BUNDLE" || -f "$HOME/.flow/bundles/$BUNDLE.json" ]] || { echo "bundle not found: $BUNDLE" >&2; exit 1; }

Try / catch

match read_bundle(id) {
    Err(e) if e.to_string().contains("Diff bundle not found") => {
        eprintln!("No such bundle; available: {}", list_bundle_ids()?.join(", "));
    }
    other => other?,
}

Prevention

Pass the full file path instead of a short id to avoid bundle-dir resolution surprises
List the bundle directory (`ls ~/.flow/bundles/`) to confirm ids before invoking
Don't delete bundles until the unroll is confirmed complete

When it happens

Trigger: Running `f unroll <id>` where no file named `<id>.json` exists in the bundle directory (bundle_dir() resolved path), and the argument was not a valid existing file path.

Common situations: Typo in the bundle id; bundle deleted or never created; running from a machine where the bundle directory is empty; bundle stored under a custom path that was never passed as a path argument; a completed/cleaned-up bundle after unroll removed it.

Understand the failure class

Background: "File not found" and ENOENT errors: why libraries can't find a file that should exist — this error's family across 50 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of nikivdev/code@a747e741ae (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/8c40036a7c457238. Report an issue: GitHub.