parcel-bundler/parcel · error · FSError

ENOENT

ENOENT

Error message

does not exist

What it means

MemoryFS.writeFile requires the parent directory to exist (it does not auto-mkdir). It looks up `path.dirname(filePath)` in `this.dirs`; if missing it throws ENOENT. This mirrors strict POSIX open() without O_CREAT-for-parent behavior.

Source

Thrown at packages/core/fs/src/MemoryFS.js:186

      res = path.join(res, last);
    }

    return res;
  }

  async writeFile(
    filePath: FilePath,
    contents: Buffer | string,
    options?: ?FileOptions,
  ) {
    filePath = this._normalizePath(filePath);
    if (this.dirs.has(filePath)) {
      throw new FSError('EISDIR', filePath, 'is a directory');
    }

    let dir = path.dirname(filePath);
    if (!this.dirs.has(dir)) {
      throw new FSError('ENOENT', dir, 'does not exist');
    }

    let buffer = makeShared(contents);
    let file = this.files.get(filePath);
    let mode = (options && options.mode) || 0o666;
    if (file) {
      file.write(buffer, mode);
      this.files.set(filePath, file);
    } else {
      this.files.set(filePath, new File(buffer, mode));
    }

    await this._sendWorkerEvent({
      type: 'writeFile',
      path: filePath,
      entry: this.files.get(filePath),
    });

View on GitHub (pinned to 59484858a1)

Solutions

1. Create parent directories first with `await memFS.mkdirp(path.dirname(filePath))`.
2. Use a flat output path during tests.
3. Wrap writes in a helper that ensures the parent dir exists.

Example fix

// before
await memFS.writeFile('/proj/sub/file.txt', 'data'); // ENOENT on /proj/sub

// after
await memFS.mkdirp('/proj/sub');
await memFS.writeFile('/proj/sub/file.txt', 'data');

import path from 'path';
async function ensureParentDir(fs, filePath) {
  const dir = path.dirname(filePath);
  try { await fs.stat(dir); }
  catch { await fs.mkdirp(dir); }
}

async function parentExists(fs, p) {
  try { await fs.stat(path.dirname(p)); return true; } catch { return false; }
}

try { await memFS.writeFile(p, data); } catch (e) {
  if (e.code === 'ENOENT') { await memFS.mkdirp(path.dirname(p)); await memFS.writeFile(p, data); } else throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling writeFile to a path whose parent directory was never created in the memory FS (no prior mkdir/mkdirp).

Common situations: Test setup forgetting to mkdirp before writing nested paths; output paths computed dynamically whose parent does not exist yet; switching from NodeFS (which often auto-creates parents in Parcel's wrappers) to MemoryFS in tests.

Related errors

• EISDIR
• ENOENT
• Expected package.json file in ${rootDir}
• ENOENT
• EEXIST

AI-assisted analysis of parcel-bundler/parcel@59484858a1 (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/218b1284bc8e1673. Report an issue: GitHub.