rohitg00/agentmemory · info

EEXIST

EEXIST

Error message

${target} already exists — leaving it untouched.

What it means

`agentmemory connect` (or the config-install command at src/cli.ts:2951) copies a config template to the target path using copyFile(..., COPYFILE_EXCL) so it never overwrites an existing file. When the target already exists, Node's copyFile throws with code EEXIST; the CLI catches it, logs '<target> already exists — leaving it untouched.', and exits without changes. The message string is the warning you see, surfaced as a NodeJS.ErrnoException.

Source

Thrown at src/cli.ts:2951

      "Could not locate .env.example in the package. Re-install with: npm i -g @agentmemory/agentmemory",
    );
    process.exit(1);
  }
  const dir = dirname(target);
  const { mkdir, copyFile } = await import("node:fs/promises");
  const { constants: fsConstants } = await import("node:fs");
  try {
    await mkdir(dir, { recursive: true });
    // COPYFILE_EXCL collapses the exists-check + copy into one syscall —
    // an existsSync(target) + copyFile() pair races with a parallel init
    // (or any other process touching ~/.agentmemory/.env between the two
    // calls) and would silently overwrite a config the operator just
    // wrote. EEXIST out of copyFile is the only "already configured"
    // signal we trust.
    await copyFile(template, target, fsConstants.COPYFILE_EXCL);
  } catch (err) {
    if ((err as NodeJS.ErrnoException)?.code === "EEXIST") {
      p.log.warn(`${target} already exists — leaving it untouched.`);
      p.log.info(
        `Compare against the latest template: diff ${target} ${template}`,
      );
      p.outro("Nothing changed.");
      return;
    }
    p.log.error(
      `Failed to copy template: ${err instanceof Error ? err.message : String(err)}`,
    );
    process.exit(1);
  }
  p.log.success(`Wrote ${target}`);
  p.note(
    [
      "All keys are commented out by default. Uncomment the ones you want.",
      "",
      "Common next steps:",
      "  1. Pick an LLM provider key (ANTHROPIC_API_KEY / OPENAI_API_KEY / GEMINI_API_KEY / etc.)",

View on GitHub (pinned to e04ba88819)

Solutions

1. Intentional safety: diff your file against the template as the CLI suggests: diff <target> <template>.
2. If you want the new template, back up and remove the existing file, then re-run the command.
3. Merge desired new keys manually instead of replacing a hand-tuned config.
4. Use a fresh/dry-run target path if you just want to preview the template contents.

Example fix

// before: rerun refuses to clobber
// ~/.claude/mcp.json already exists — leaving it untouched.
// after: review then replace deliberately
cp ~/.claude/mcp.json ~/.claude/mcp.json.bak
rm ~/.claude/mcp.json && npx agentmemory connect

import { existsSync } from "node:fs";
if (existsSync(target)) {
  console.log(`${target} exists; diff against ${template} or delete it to re-install`);
  process.exit(0);
}

const isEexist = (e: unknown): e is NodeJS.ErrnoException =>
  (e as NodeJS.ErrnoException)?.code === "EEXIST";

try {
  await copyFile(template, target, fsConstants.COPYFILE_EXCL);
} catch (err) {
  if ((err as NodeJS.ErrnoException)?.code === "EEXIST") {
    console.log(`${target} already exists — diff ${target} ${template}`);
  } else throw err;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Running the install/connect command twice, or after another tool (the app itself, another CLI) already created the target config file (e.g. an MCP config JSON for the adapter).

Common situations: Re-running setup on an existing project; a previous version of the tool wrote the file and you want the new template; multiple agents/tools writing the same config path.

Related errors

• Unknown --tools value "${toolsMode}" (valid: all, core); fal
• POST ${url} failed: ${res.status} ${res.statusText}${suffix}
• agentmemory: could not locate bundled plugin/ directory (sea
• OPENAI_API_KEY is required for the openai provider
• AGENTMEMORY_VIEWER_HOST=${host} requires AGENTMEMORY_SECRET

AI-assisted analysis of rohitg00/agentmemory@e04ba88819 (2026-08-30). Data as JSON: /api/errors/8ed68a0eee244161. Report an issue: GitHub.