nikivdev/code · error

Tool '{}' not found. Create it with: f tools new {}

Error message

Tool '{}' not found. Create it with: f tools new {}

What it means

Raised by run_tool (src/tools.rs:129) when the requested tool's source file <tools_dir>/<name>.ts does not exist. The tool runner executes tools via bun, so it requires the .ts file to be present and suggests scaffolding it with `f tools new <name>`.

Source

Thrown at src/tools.rs:129

        if trimmed.starts_with("///") {
            return Some(trimmed.trim_start_matches("///").trim().to_string());
        }
        // Skip empty lines at the top
        if !trimmed.is_empty() && !trimmed.starts_with("//") {
            break;
        }
    }

    None
}

/// Run a tool via bun.
fn run_tool(name: &str, args: Vec<String>) -> Result<()> {
    let tools_dir = get_tools_dir()?;
    let tool_file = tools_dir.join(format!("{}.ts", name));

    if !tool_file.exists() {
        bail!(
            "Tool '{}' not found. Create it with: f tools new {}",
            name,
            name
        );
    }

    let status = Command::new("bun")
        .arg("run")
        .arg(&tool_file)
        .args(&args)
        .status()
        .context("failed to run bun")?;

    if !status.success() {
        bail!("Tool '{}' exited with status: {}", name, status);
    }

    Ok(())

View on GitHub (pinned to a747e741ae)

Solutions

1. Run `f tools new <name>` to scaffold the missing tool.
2. List existing tools in the tools directory to check the exact spelling (`ls $(f tools dir)` or similar).
3. If the tool lived on another machine, copy/sync the tools directory first.
4. If you only need a one-off, write the tool file directly as a TypeScript file in the tools dir.

Example fix

// before
f deploy-stagging
// after: create the correctly named tool, then run it
f tools new deploy-staging
f deploy-staging

const fs = require("fs"), path = require("path");
const toolsDir = process.env.F_TOOLS_DIR || path.join(process.env.HOME, ".config", "f", "tools");
if (!fs.existsSync(path.join(toolsDir, name + ".ts"))) {
  console.error(`tool ${name} missing; run: f tools new ${name}`);
}

try {
  runTool(name);
} catch (e) {
  if (String(e).includes("not found. Create it with")) {
    execSync(`f tools new ${name}`);
  } else throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling `f <toolname>` (via run → run_tool) with a tool name that was never created, a misspelled name, or before the tools directory has been initialized/set up (get_tools_dir resolves but contains no such file).

Common situations: Typo in the tool name on the command line; switching machines where ~/.config tools dir was not synced; tool renamed but old invocations cached in shell aliases/scripts.

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

• Session '{}' not found in saved sessions
• Project not found. Create it with `f env push` first.
• Key '{}' not found
• No running process found for task '{}'
• Project '{}' not found. Use `f projects` to see registered p

AI-assisted analysis of nikivdev/code@a747e741ae (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/9438f6c3f0278642. Report an issue: GitHub.