puppetlabs/puppet · error · Puppet::Error

Could not find class %{name} for %{node}

Error message

Could not find class %{name} for %{node}

What it means

evaluate_classes resolves each requested class name through environment.known_resource_types.find_hostclass (the Puppet 3.x/autoloader path); a miss raises Puppet::Error 'Could not find class X for node'. Resolution happens before instantiation, so the class must already be loadable from the environment's modulepath.

Source

Thrown at lib/puppet/parser/compiler.rb:249

  # Evaluates each specified class in turn. If there are any classes that
  # can't be found, an error is raised. This method really just creates resource objects
  # that point back to the classes, and then the resources are themselves
  # evaluated later in the process.
  #
  def evaluate_classes(classes, scope, lazy_evaluate = true)
    raise Puppet::DevError, _("No source for scope passed to evaluate_classes") unless scope.source

    class_parameters = nil
    # if we are a param class, save the classes hash
    # and transform classes to be the keys
    if classes.instance_of?(Hash)
      class_parameters = classes
      classes = classes.keys
    end

    hostclasses = classes.collect do |name|
      environment.known_resource_types.find_hostclass(name) or raise Puppet::Error, _("Could not find class %{name} for %{node}") % { name: name, node: node.name }
    end

    if class_parameters
      resources = ensure_classes_with_parameters(scope, hostclasses, class_parameters)
      unless lazy_evaluate
        resources.each(&:evaluate)
      end

      resources
    else
      already_included, newly_included = ensure_classes_without_parameters(scope, hostclasses)
      unless lazy_evaluate
        newly_included.each(&:evaluate)
      end

      already_included + newly_included
    end
  end

View on GitHub (pinned to e227c27540)

Solutions

1. Check the module is present in the compiling environment's modulepath (puppet module list / puppet config print modulepath)
2. Verify autoloader layout: foo::bar must live in foo/manifests/bar.pp and define foo::bar
3. Fix class name spelling and casing to match the declared name exactly
4. Confirm the node resolves to the environment that actually contains the module

Example fix

// before: roles/manifests/web_server.pp defines roles::web_server
include roles::webserver

// after
include roles::web_server

# API-level pre-check: does the environment resolve the class?
env.known_resource_types.find_hostclass(class_name) or raise LoadError, "class #{class_name} not loadable"

begin
  compiler.compile
rescue Puppet::Error => e
  if (m = e.message.match(/Could not find class (\S+) for /))
    missing << m[1]
  end
  raise
end

When it happens

Trigger: include profile::web when the profile module is not in the environment's modulepath; foo::bar expected in foo/manifests/bar.pp but the file is named differently; class name casing mismatch; wrong environment (module exists in production, node compiles in test).

Common situations: Module not installed or renamed; environment mismatch between agent and code; Puppet 4+ strict module layout violations; typos in class names; rspec-puppet tests without module fixture metadata.

Related errors

• Function Load Error for function '%{function_name}': %{messa
• A required parameter cannot be added after an optional param
• block_param accepts max 2 arguments (type, name), got %{size
• Attempt to redefine block
• Argument to 'return_type' must be a String reference to a Pu

AI-assisted analysis of puppetlabs/puppet@e227c27540 (2026-08-21). Data as JSON: /api/errors/625abb6415204ea0. Report an issue: GitHub.