phiresky/ripgrep-all · error

Config file not found

Error message

Config file not found: {}

What it means

This error is thrown by read_config_file in src/config.rs when the user explicitly provided a config file path override, but the resolved path override does not exist on disk. The library only auto-creates a default config when no path override is given; when a path override IS given, a missing file is treated as a hard error instead of silently creating a default. The error message interpolates the offending path so the developer can see exactly which file was not found.

Solutions

1. Check that the path passed via the config override flag exists: run `ls -la <path>` (or the equivalent) to confirm the file is present.
2. Fix typos or update the path to the actual config file location, e.g. use the repo's config/config.v1.json rather than a stale path.
3. If the config lives in a fresh checkout, either restore the file or remove the override so the library falls back to writing/using the default config in config_dir.
4. Run the command from the intended working directory (or pass an absolute path) so relative overrides resolve correctly.

Example fix

// before
mytool --config ./confg/config.v1.json
// after (typo fixed, and verify the file exists)
ls ./config/config.v1.json && mytool --config ./config/config.v1.json

fn ensure_config_exists(path: &str) -> Result<(), String> {
    let p = std::path::Path::new(path);
    if p.is_file() {
        Ok(())
    } else {
        Err(format!("Config override does not exist: {}", path))
    }
}

fn config_file_exists(path: &str) -> bool {
    std::path::Path::new(path).is_file()
}

// Rust: handle the anyhow error at the call site
match parse_args() {
    Ok(args) => run(args),
    Err(e) if e.to_string().starts_with("Config file not found:") => {
        eprintln!("{} — falling back to default config", e);
        run_with_default_config();
    }
    Err(e) => return Err(e),
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling the CLI (via parse_args) with a --config style path override pointing to a file that does not exist, e.g. a typo in the path, a config file that was moved or deleted, or a relative path resolved against a different working directory.

Common situations: Typo in the config path flag; pointing at a config file in a repo that was gitignored and never created on a fresh clone; running from a different working directory so a relative path no longer resolves; CI environments where the config file was expected to be provisioned by a prior step that failed.

Understand the failure class

Background: "Config file not found": what it means and how to fix it in docker-sync, Maven, Vagrant, Turborepo and other tools — this error's family across 60 libraries.

AI-assisted analysis of phiresky/ripgrep-all@0f10fb926e (2026-09-10). Data as JSON: /api/errors/f397b7a0ccaf04d0. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at src/config.rs:300

                format!("Could not read config file json {config_filename_str}")
            })?;
            let mut s = String::new();
            json_comments::StripComments::new(raw.as_bytes())
                .read_to_string(&mut s)
                .context("strip comments")?;
            s
        };
        {
            // just for error messages, actual deserialization happens after merging with cmd args
            serde_json::from_str::<RgaConfig>(&config_file_contents).with_context(|| {
                format!("Error in config file {config_filename_str}: {config_file_contents}")
            })?;
        }
        let config_json: serde_json::Value =
            serde_json::from_str(&config_file_contents).context("Could not parse config json")?;
        Ok((config_filename_str, config_json))
    } else if let Some(p) = path_override.as_ref() {
        Err(anyhow::anyhow!("Config file not found: {}", p))?
    } else {
        // write default config
        std::fs::create_dir_all(config_dir)?;
        let mut schemafile = File::create(config_dir.join("config.v1.schema.json"))?;

        schemafile.write_all(
            serde_json::to_string_pretty(&schemars::schema_for!(RgaConfig))?.as_bytes(),
        )?;

        let mut configfile = File::create(config_filename)?;
        configfile.write_all(include_str!("../doc/config.default.jsonc").as_bytes())?;
        Ok((
            config_filename_str,
            serde_json::Value::Object(Default::default()),
        ))
    }
}
fn read_config_env() -> Result<Value> {

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