serverless/serverless · error · Error

The bucket "${bucketName}" does not exist. Please check the

Error message

The bucket "${bucketName}" does not exist. Please check the bucket name and try again.

What it means

Thrown by checkBucketVersioning() when the underlying GetBucketVersioningCommand call fails with NoSuchBucket. The method catches the AWS error and re-throws a plain Error (not ServerlessError, no error code) whose message states the bucket does not exist. Because it is a plain Error, callers cannot match on .code and must inspect the message.

Source

Thrown at packages/engine/src/lib/aws/s3.js:93

        versioningParams,
      )
      const versioningResponse = await this.client.send(getVersioningCommand)

      // Check if versioning is enabled
      const versioningStatus = versioningResponse.Status

      if (versioningStatus === BucketVersioningStatus.Enabled) {
        return true
      } else if (versioningStatus === BucketVersioningStatus.Suspended) {
        return false
      } else {
        return false
      }
    } catch (err) {
      const name = err.name
      // Check if the error is due to the bucket not existing
      if (err instanceof NoSuchBucket || name === 'NoSuchBucket') {
        throw new Error(
          `The bucket "${bucketName}" does not exist. Please check the bucket name and try again.`,
        )
      } else {
        // Re-throw any other errors
        throw new Error(
          `An error occurred while checking versioning for bucket "${bucketName}": ${err.message}`,
        )
      }
    }
  }

  /**
   * Checks if an S3 bucket exists.
   *
   * @param {Object} params - The parameters for checking if the bucket exists.
   * @param {string} params.bucketName - The name of the S3 bucket.
   * @returns {Promise<boolean>} - Returns true if the bucket exists, false otherwise.
   */

View on GitHub (pinned to b9d7ea51c8)

Solutions

Verify the bucket name spelling and that it exists in the AWS account the engine is authenticated to.
Run aws s3api list-buckets (or check the console) with the same credentials to confirm ownership.
Call checkIfBucketExists({ bucketName }) before calling checkBucketVersioning to fail fast with a clear signal.
Confirm the bucket has not been deleted and that the region matches.

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

const exists = await s3.checkIfBucketExists({ bucketName })
if (!exists) throw new Error(`Bucket ${bucketName} not found; fix the name/region/account`)
// only then:
await s3.checkBucketVersioning({ bucketName })

Type guard

// Plain Error with no .code — match on message.
function isBucketNotFound(e) {
  return e instanceof Error && /does not exist/.test(e.message)
}

Try / catch

try {
  return await s3.checkBucketVersioning({ bucketName })
} catch (e) {
  if (isBucketNotFound(e)) { /* bucket missing: fix name/region/account */ }
  throw e
}

Prevention

Call checkIfBucketExists before any bucket-property read to fail fast with intent.
Keep bucket names in config rather than computing them ad hoc to avoid typos.
Confirm the deploy credentials own the bucket.

When it happens

Trigger: GetBucketVersioningCommand rejects with err.name === 'NoSuchBucket' (or an instance of NoSuchBucket) for the supplied bucketName.

Common situations: Wrong bucket name (typo); bucket lives in a different AWS account than the credentials in use; bucket was deleted; bucket name correct but the deploy target region differs (S3 names are globally unique but access is account-scoped); credentials point to the wrong account.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of serverless/serverless@b9d7ea51c8 (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/f0e24419c9a6bbd8. Report an issue: GitHub.