remotion-dev/remotion · error · Error

No packages were specified

Error message

No packages were specified

What it means

installPackages guards against empty dependency lists: an empty dependencies array throws 'No packages were specified', converted by the surrounding try/catch into a structured error result.

Source

Thrown at packages/browser-studio/src/browser-studio-operations.ts:1245

					fileName: edit.fileName,
					sequenceNodePath: edit.sequenceNodePath,
					status: getEffectStatus({
						effectIndex: edit.effectIndex,
						fileName: edit.fileName,
						project: nextProject,
						schema: edit.schema,
						sequenceNodePath: edit.sequenceNodePath,
					}),
				})),
			};
		},
	};

	const packageInstallation: BrowserStudioPackageInstallationOperations = {
		installPackages: async ({dependencies}) => {
			try {
				if (dependencies.length === 0) {
					throw new Error('No packages were specified');
				}

				const installedDependencies =
					await resolveElementDependencies(dependencies);
				const project = getProject();
				const nextProject = addDependenciesToProject({
					dependencies: installedDependencies,
					project,
				});
				controller.applyMutation({
					timelineSelection: null,
					fileName: 'Install packages',
					mutate: () => nextProject,
					nodePathMutationFiles: null,
				});

				return {success: true};
			} catch (error) {

View on GitHub (pinned to b2f4e34732)

Solutions

  1. Check dependencies.length > 0 before calling installPackages.
  2. Skip the install step entirely when dependency detection returns nothing.
  3. Treat an empty dependency list as success in the calling flow rather than calling the operation.
Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

if (dependencies.length > 0) {
  const result = await operations.packageInstallation.installPackages({dependencies});
}

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: Calling packageInstallation.installPackages({dependencies: []}) — e.g. an install flow where dependency detection found nothing to install but the call was still made.

Common situations: Element install flows whose dependency scan returned an empty list; UI buttons that unconditionally trigger install after a failed scan.

Related errors


AI-assisted analysis of remotion-dev/remotion@b2f4e34732 (2026-08-22). Data as JSON: /api/errors/9e8c880f5ef614ab. Report an issue: GitHub.