siyuan-note/siyuan · error

created doc path [%s] already exists

Error message

created doc path [%s] already exists

What it means

When restoring documents that were created from a template (e.g. during redo or rollback bookkeeping), the kernel checks that the target path inside the notebook box does not already exist before writing. If a file already occupies tree.Path, writing would clobber an existing document, so the commit fails with this error naming the conflicting path.

Source

Thrown at kernel/model/transaction.go:2709

		}
		if current := tx.trees[tree.ID]; nil != current {
			orderedTrees = append(orderedTrees, current)
			restoredIDs[tree.ID] = struct{}{}
		}
	}
	for id, tree := range tx.trees {
		if _, restored := restoredIDs[id]; !restored {
			orderedTrees = append(orderedTrees, tree)
		}
	}
	for _, tree := range orderedTrees {
		if _, restored := restoredIDs[tree.ID]; restored {
			box := Conf.Box(tree.Box)
			if nil == box {
				return ErrBoxNotFound
			}
			if box.Exist(tree.Path) {
				return fmt.Errorf("created doc path [%s] already exists", tree.Path)
			}
			tx.attemptedTemplateCreatedDocs[tree.ID] = tree
		}
		writeTransactionTree := tx.writeTransactionTree
		if nil == writeTransactionTree {
			writeTransactionTree = writeTreeUpsertQueue
		}
		if err = writeTransactionTree(tree); err != nil {
			return
		}

		var sources []any
		sources = append(sources, tx)
		util.PushSaveDoc(tree.ID, "tx", sources)

		checkUpsertInUserGuide(tree)
	}
	for boxID, icon := range tx.boxIcons {

View on GitHub (pinned to 8641553a1f)

Solutions

1. Delete or rename the existing document at the reported path, then retry the transaction
2. Refresh the document tree so the UI reflects the actual existing document and re-do the template creation into a fresh doc
3. Investigate leftover files from a failed prior transaction (compare data/<box>/.siyuan/ contents with the doc tree) and clean them up via the UI

const exists = await fetchPost('/api/filetree/docExists', {box: boxId, path: docPath});
if (exists.data) throw new Error('path already exists: ' + docPath);

try {
  await redoTemplateCreation(tx);
} catch (e) {
  if (/created doc path \[.*\] already exists/.test(String(e.message))) {
    await reloadDocTree(); // adopt the existing doc instead of recreating it
  } else { throw e; }
}

When it happens

Trigger: Committing a transaction where a restored/created doc's path already exists in the box (box.Exist(tree.Path) is true) — typically because the document was recreated with the same ID/path earlier, or a prior partial commit left the file behind.

Common situations: Undo followed by redo of template document creation where the first attempt's file was not cleaned up; the same template inserted twice producing the same path; sync restored a copy of the document while a local restore was pending.

Understand the failure class

Background: "already exists" / EEXIST / FileAlreadyExistsException: what the 'file already exists' error means and how to fix it — this error's family across 37 libraries.

Related errors

• load template document tree parent snapshot failed: %w
• template document tree parent snapshot is invalid
• the document used to render the template has changed
• new item templates config is nil
• a document tree plan must be applied in a single transaction

AI-assisted analysis of siyuan-note/siyuan@8641553a1f (2026-09-11). Data as JSON: /api/errors/df5870dd837c5f7a. Report an issue: GitHub.