oraios/serena · error · RuntimeError

Could not find sourcekit-lsp, please install it as described

Error message

Could not find sourcekit-lsp, please install it as described in https://github.com/apple/sourcekit-lsp#installationAnd make sure it is available on your PATH.

What it means

The wrapper RuntimeError from _get_sourcekit_lsp_version's except clause: any failure to probe sourcekit-lsp (missing binary, non-zero exit) is normalized to this install-guidance message, chained from the original exception. It indicates the Swift toolchain LSP server is unavailable, so the SourceKit language server cannot start.

Source

Thrown at src/solidlsp/language_servers/sourcekit_lsp.py:43

    def is_ignored_dirname(self, dirname: str) -> bool:
        # For Swift projects, we should ignore:
        # - .build: Swift Package Manager build artifacts
        # - .swiftpm: Swift Package Manager metadata
        # - node_modules: if the project has JavaScript components
        # - dist/build: common output directories
        return super().is_ignored_dirname(dirname) or dirname in [".build", ".swiftpm", "node_modules", "dist", "build"]

    @staticmethod
    def _get_sourcekit_lsp_version() -> str:
        """Get the installed sourcekit-lsp version or raise error if sourcekit was not found."""
        try:
            result = subprocess_run(["sourcekit-lsp", "-h"], capture_output=True, text=True, check=False)
            if result.returncode == 0:
                return result.stdout.strip()
            else:
                raise Exception(f"`sourcekit-lsp -h` resulted in: {result}")
        except Exception as e:
            raise RuntimeError(
                "Could not find sourcekit-lsp, please install it as described in https://github.com/apple/sourcekit-lsp#installation"
                "And make sure it is available on your PATH."
            ) from e

    def __init__(self, config: LanguageServerConfig, repository_root_path: str, solidlsp_settings: SolidLSPSettings):
        sourcekit_version = self._get_sourcekit_lsp_version()
        log.info(f"Starting sourcekit lsp with version: {sourcekit_version}")

        super().__init__(
            config, repository_root_path, ProcessLaunchInfo(cmd="sourcekit-lsp", cwd=repository_root_path), "swift", solidlsp_settings
        )
        self.request_id = 0
        self._did_sleep_before_requesting_references = False
        self._initialization_timestamp: float | None = None

    @override
    def _document_symbols_cache_fingerprint(self) -> Hashable:
        normalize_symbol_name_version = 1

View on GitHub (pinned to 7fcbca7e62)

Solutions

1. Install the Swift toolchain from swift.org (includes sourcekit-lsp) or full Xcode on macOS.
2. Ensure the binary resolves: `which sourcekit-lsp`; add the toolchain usr/bin to PATH if not.
3. Inspect the chained cause (`raise ... from e`) message to distinguish not-found vs non-zero exit.
4. On Linux CI, use the official swift Docker image which bundles sourcekit-lsp.

Example fix

// before: CI image without swift
FROM ubuntu:22.04
// after
FROM swift:5.10-jammy

import shutil
assert shutil.which("sourcekit-lsp"), "sourcekit-lsp missing from PATH; install Swift toolchain first"

def has_sourcekit_lsp() -> bool:
    import shutil
    return shutil.which("sourcekit-lsp") is not None

try:
    server = SourceKitLSP(config, repo_root, settings)
except RuntimeError as e:
    if "Could not find sourcekit-lsp" in str(e):
        print(e.__cause__)  # distinguish not-found vs non-zero exit
        raise SystemExit("Install sourcekit-lsp: https://github.com/apple/sourcekit-lsp#installation") from e
    raise

When it happens

Trigger: Initializing SourceKitLSP when the `sourcekit-lsp` executable is absent from PATH or `sourcekit-lsp -h` exits non-zero; the chained `from e` exception holds the underlying cause.

Common situations: Fresh machines without Swift tooling, Docker images lacking swift runtime, minimal Xcode CLT-only installs where sourcekit-lsp ships only with full Xcode, CI runners with restricted PATH.

Related errors

• `sourcekit-lsp -h` resulted in: {result}
• Mode file not found: {path.resolve()}
• Error: Path does not exist: {project_root}
• Error: Path is not a directory: {project_root}
• Project root not found: {project_root}

AI-assisted analysis of oraios/serena@7fcbca7e62 (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/4bb83012c213a449. Report an issue: GitHub.