spacedriveapp/spacedrive · error · anyhow::Error

No libraries found on remote device. Use 'Share my library'

Error message

No libraries found on remote device. Use 'Share my library' instead.

What it means

Thrown by the library sync wizard when the user chooses option 1 ('Join remote library') but the discovery result from the remote device contains zero libraries. Joining requires an existing remote library, so the wizard aborts and points you at the 'Share my library' path instead, which creates a library from the local side.

Source

Thrown at apps/cli/src/domains/library/mod.rs:374

	let action = match action_idx {
		0 => {
			// Share local library
			let name = libraries[library_idx].name.clone();

			println!(
				"\n✓ Will share library '{}' to remote device '{}'\n",
				name, remote_device.name
			);

			(
				LibrarySyncAction::ShareLocalLibrary { library_name: name },
				None,
			)
		}
		1 => {
			// Join remote library
			if discovery_out.libraries.is_empty() {
				anyhow::bail!(
					"No libraries found on remote device. Use 'Share my library' instead."
				);
			}

			let remote_lib_choices: Vec<String> = discovery_out
				.libraries
				.iter()
				.map(|lib| {
					format!(
						"{} ({} entries, {} locations)",
						lib.name, lib.statistics.total_files, lib.statistics.location_count
					)
				})
				.collect();

			let remote_lib_idx = select("Select remote library to join", &remote_lib_choices)?;
			let remote_library = &discovery_out.libraries[remote_lib_idx];

View on GitHub (pinned to 6dfeccf211)

Solutions

Choose 'Share my library to remote device' (option 0) instead, which creates the shared library from your local library
Or create a library on the remote device first, then re-run the wizard and join it
Verify what the remote actually exposes by re-running discovery once the remote has a library

Defensive patterns

Strategy: fallback

Validate before calling

if discovery_out.libraries.is_empty() {
    println!("Remote has no libraries; falling back to 'Share my library' flow");
    // proceed with LibrarySyncAction::ShareLocalLibrary { library_name }
}

Type guard

fn can_join_remote(discovery: &DiscoverRemoteLibrariesOutput) -> bool {
    !discovery.libraries.is_empty()
}

Prevention

Inspect the wizard's remote library list (entries/locations counts) before choosing Join
Create a library on the remote device first if you specifically want to join it
Treat 'Share my library' as the default path between fresh devices

When it happens

Trigger: Choosing 'Join remote library' after 'sd library sync' with a remote device that has no libraries yet (fresh remote install, or the remote library list is empty).

Common situations: Two fresh devices paired for the first time; remote user deleted all their libraries; testing sync between two dev daemons that were just initialized.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of spacedriveapp/spacedrive@6dfeccf211 (2026-08-16). Data as JSON: /api/errors/0b6cd86aa0e00170. Report an issue: GitHub.