remotion-dev/remotion · error

Could not locate the folder to delete

Error message

Could not locate the folder to delete

What it means

Thrown by getDeleteFolderSourceEdit (folder-source-edits.ts:281) when the located folder's JSXElement has no source location (`node.loc` is null). Deleting a folder requires computing character offsets from the node's loc; a location-less node (typically one synthesized by an earlier AST mutation in the same codemod run) cannot be mapped back to text.

Solutions

1. Reload the Studio / re-parse the file so all JSX nodes regain source locations, then delete again
2. Delete the <Folder> element manually in the editor
3. Avoid chaining create+delete folder operations on the same unsaved file

// Re-parse the file first so nodes carry fresh locations
const ast = parseAst(input);
if (getLocatedItems(ast).every((i) => !i.node.loc)) {
  throw new Error('File nodes lack source locations; save/reformat first');
}

const isLocatable = (node: JSXElement): node is JSXElement & {loc: NonNullable<JSXElement['loc']>} => node.loc !== null && node.loc !== undefined;

try {
  editFolderInSource({codeMod, input});
} catch (e) {
  if (e instanceof Error && e.message === 'Could not locate the folder to delete') {
    // delete the <Folder> block manually
  }
}

When it happens

Trigger: A `delete-folder` codemod targets a folder whose JSXElement node lost its recast `loc`, usually because the node was created or replaced programmatically during applyCodemod rather than existing in the original parsed source.

Common situations: Deleting a folder right after another codemod moved/created nodes in the same file within one Studio session, or Root files where the folder JSX was generated rather than hand-written.

Understand the failure class

Background: "This is a bug, please report it": internal invariant violations, unreachable panics, and SNH errors explained — this error's family across 47 libraries.

Related errors

• Cannot duplicate JSX element with no parent
• Cannot split a JSX sequence without a source location
• Cannot split JSX sequence with no parent
• Could not find a root JSX element
• Could not find a root JSX element

AI-assisted analysis of remotion-dev/remotion@46a3a6bf13 (2026-09-18). Data as JSON: /api/errors/473a9d6bf8d89bd5. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at packages/studio-codemods/src/folder-source-edits.ts:281

	return lines
		.map((line) => (line.trim() === '' ? '' : line.slice(commonIndent.length)))
		.join(getEndOfLine(source));
};

const isMeaningfulChild = (child: JSXElement['children'][number]) =>
	child.type !== 'JSXText' || child.value.trim() !== '';

const getDeleteFolderSourceEdit = ({
	input,
	located,
}: {
	input: string;
	located: LocatedItem;
}): SourceEdit => {
	const {node, path} = located;
	if (!node.loc) {
		throw new Error('Could not locate the folder to delete');
	}

	const openingEnd = node.openingElement.loc
		? recastLocToOffset(input, node.openingElement.loc.end)
		: null;
	const closingStart = node.closingElement?.loc
		? recastLocToOffset(input, node.closingElement.loc.start)
		: null;
	const inner =
		openingEnd === null || closingStart === null
			? ''
			: normalizeBlock(input.slice(openingEnd, closingStart));

	if (!located.directJsxChild) {
		const meaningfulChildren = node.children.filter(isMeaningfulChild);
		if (meaningfulChildren.length === 0) {
			return {
				start: recastLocToOffset(input, node.loc.start),

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