santifer/career-ops · error · Error

plugins.local/${id} already exists — `node plugins.mjs remov

Error message

plugins.local/${id} already exists — `node plugins.mjs remove ${id}` first

What it means

Thrown by installFromRepo() when the destination plugins.local/<id> already exists at install time. Re-installing over an existing plugin would silently change its code/version without going through the explicit remove → reinstall flow, so the operation fails fast and tells the user how to proceed.

Source

Thrown at plugin-install.mjs:82

  // validateManifest wants the dir to BE the plugin dir + the basename to equal id.
  const tmpNamed = path.join(path.dirname(dir), expectId);
  if (dir !== tmpNamed) { try { renameSync(dir, tmpNamed); dir = tmpNamed; } catch { /* validate in place using expectId */ } }
  const manifest = validateManifest(parsed, dir, expectId);
  if (!manifest) return { ok: false, problems: ['manifest failed validation (see ⚠️ above)'], manifest: null, dir };
  const audit = auditPlugin(dir);
  if (!audit.ok) return { ok: false, problems: audit.findings.map(f => `${f.file}: ${f.issue}`), manifest, dir };
  return { ok: true, problems: [], manifest, dir };
}

/**
 * Install a community plugin from a github repo at a pinned SHA into
 * plugins.local/<id>. Returns { id, manifest, integrity, dir } WITHOUT enabling
 * it (the caller runs the consent gate). Throws on any validation failure.
 */
export function installFromRepo(root, { url, sha }) {
  const { url: safeUrl, id } = parseRepoArg(url);
  const dest = path.join(root, 'plugins.local', id);
  if (existsSync(dest)) throw new Error(`plugins.local/${id} already exists — \`node plugins.mjs remove ${id}\` first`);
  let cloned = safeClone(safeUrl, sha);
  let result;
  try { result = validateInstall(cloned, id); }
  catch (e) { rmSync(cloned, { recursive: true, force: true }); throw e; }
  if (!result.ok) {
    rmSync(result.dir || cloned, { recursive: true, force: true });
    throw new Error(`plugin rejected:\n  - ${result.problems.join('\n  - ')}`);
  }
  mkdirSync(path.join(root, 'plugins.local'), { recursive: true });
  cpSync(result.dir, dest, { recursive: true });
  rmSync(result.dir, { recursive: true, force: true });
  const tree = hashPluginTree(dest);
  return { id, manifest: { ...result.manifest, dir: dest }, integrity: tree.integrity, files: tree.files, repo: safeUrl, sha };
}

/**
 * Clone + statically validate a registry entry WITHOUT installing it (used by
 * the registry-validate CI). Executes NO plugin code — manifest is parsed, the

View on GitHub (pinned to 9b17a8ac97)

Solutions

1. Run `node plugins.mjs remove <id>` first, then reinstall.
2. If the existing dir is a leftover from a failed install, remove it manually or via the remove command.
3. Use a different plugin name/id if you want both copies.
4. Confirm you are not reinstalling the same plugin unintentionally.

Example fix

// before: re-run install over existing
cpSync(result.dir, dest); // throws: already exists
// after: remove then install
// `node plugins.mjs remove my-plugin`
// `node plugins.mjs install <repo> --sha <sha>`

import { existsSync } from 'fs';
import path from 'path';
function pluginInstalled(root, id) {
  return existsSync(path.join(root, 'plugins.local', id));
}
if (pluginInstalled(root, id)) {
  // prompt: remove first, or pick a different id
}

null

try {
  installFromRepo(root, { url, sha });
} catch (e) {
  if (/already exists/.test(e.message)) {
    // run `node plugins.mjs remove <id>` then retry
  } else throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Running install twice without removing; a plugin with the same id was scaffolded locally earlier; a previous failed install left a partial plugins.local/<id> directory.

Common situations: Iterating on plugin install during development; reinstalling to bump a SHA; a prior install was interrupted after cpSync created the dest dir.

Related errors

• plugins.local/${name} already exists
• payload.cv requires a non-empty dedupKey (used for dedup/ide
• LOCK_TIMEOUT
• ROW_NOT_FOUND
• Cannot read benchmarks at ${path}: ${err.message}

AI-assisted analysis of santifer/career-ops@9b17a8ac97 (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/fd9cc40883b02199. Report an issue: GitHub.