phalcon/cphalcon · error · Phalcon\Assets\Exceptions\InvalidAssetSourcePath

Asset '{path}' does not have a valid source path

Error message

Asset '{path}' does not have a valid source path

What it means

While processing a filtered local asset the manager computes the real source path (base + asset path); if that comes back empty the manager reports the asset's own path in an InvalidAssetSourcePath exception. Empty here means the asset has no usable source location — typically the file does not exist so getRealSourcePath() yields nothing.

Source

Thrown at phalcon/Assets/Manager.zep:499

             * If the collection must not be joined we must print a HTML for
             * each one
             */
            if (true !== empty(filters)) {
                let sourcePath = asset->getPath();
                if (true === asset->isLocal()) {
                    let filterNeeded = true;
                    /**
                     * Get the complete path
                     */
                    let sourcePath = asset->getRealSourcePath(completeSourcePath);

                    /**
                     * We need a valid source path
                     */
                    if (true === empty(sourcePath)) {
                        let sourcePath = asset->getPath();

                        throw new InvalidAssetSourcePath(sourcePath);
                    }
                }

                /**
                 * Get the target path, we need to write the filtered content to
                 * a file
                 */
                let targetPath = asset->getRealTargetPath(completeTargetPath);

                /**
                 * We need a valid final target path
                 */
                if (true === empty(targetPath)) {
                    throw new InvalidAssetTargetPath(asset->getPath());
                }

                if (true === asset->isLocal()) {
                    /**

View on GitHub (pinned to b7419de9cd)

Solutions

1. Check the file exists: `var_dump(is_file($sourceBasePath . $asset->getPath()))` and fix the path or base
2. Correct the Manager's 'sourceBasePath' option or the asset's path so the concatenation points at the real file
3. Install the missing frontend dependencies before building assets
4. Mark remote/CDN assets with `$asset->setLocal(false)` so no local read is attempted

Example fix

// before
$assets = new \Phalcon\Assets\Manager(['sourceBasePath' => '/app/public']);
$collection->addJs('/js/app.js', true, false); // resolves to /app/public/js/app.js which is missing
// after: deploy the file or fix the base
$assets = new \Phalcon\Assets\Manager(['sourceBasePath' => '/app/public']);
$collection->addJs('js/app.js', true, false);

$source = rtrim($sourceBasePath, '/') . '/' . ltrim($asset->getPath(), '/');
if (!is_file($source)) {
    throw new RuntimeException('Cannot filter asset, source file missing: ' . $source);
}
echo $assets->outputJs($name);

try {
    echo $assets->outputJs('footer');
} catch (\Phalcon\Assets\Exceptions\InvalidAssetSourcePath $e) {
    $logger->error('Asset source missing/unresolvable: ' . $e->getMessage());
    echo $assets->outputJs(null); // degrade to unfiltered tags if acceptable
}

When it happens

Trigger: A filtered local asset whose file is missing at sourceBasePath . path when outputCss()/outputJs() runs; an asset constructed with an empty path; wrong 'sourceBasePath' so every lookup misses.

Common situations: Building CSS/JS in CI where bower/npm assets have not been fetched yet; wrong docroot base path in a Docker image; asset path starting with '/' that double-joins with the base path.

Related errors

• Path '{path}' is not a valid target path
• Path '{path}' is not a valid target path, it is a directory.
• Asset '{path}' does not have a valid target path
• The filter is not valid
• Annotations directory cannot be written

AI-assisted analysis of phalcon/cphalcon@b7419de9cd (2026-08-21). Data as JSON: /api/errors/d58472f276c184b6. Report an issue: GitHub.