swc-project/swc · error

failed to load file

Error message

failed to load file

What it means

Node binding panic in transform_file_sync: cm.load_file for the requested source path failed inside the try_with closure, and .expect('failed to load file') turned the I/O failure into a process aborting panic rather than a napi error.

Source

Thrown at bindings/binding_core_node/src/transform.rs:270

        let c = compiler_for_program_input(&program_input, get_compiler());

        try_with(
            c.cm.clone(),
            !options.config.error.filename.into_bool(),
            error_format,
            |handler| c.run(|| process_program_input(&c, handler, program_input, &options)),
        )
        .convert_err()
    } else {
        let c = get_fresh_compiler();

        try_with(
            c.cm.clone(),
            !options.config.error.filename.into_bool(),
            error_format,
            |handler| {
                c.run(|| {
                    let fm = c.cm.load_file(Path::new(&s)).expect("failed to load file");
                    c.process_js_file(fm, handler, &options)
                })
            },
        )
        .convert_err()
    }
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 5176682b65)

Solutions

1. Check the file path and read permissions before calling transformFileSync
2. Return the load_file error through the handler so JS gets a catchable error

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at bindings/binding_core_node/src/transform.rs:270 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of swc-project/swc@5176682b65 (2026-08-17). Data as JSON: /api/errors/9ee00d6cb913cb83. Report an issue: GitHub.