Android NDK invalid. Make sure the NDK_HOME environment vari

Error message

Android NDK invalid. Make sure the NDK_HOME environment variable has correct value.

What it means

ensure_ndk() found the NDK_HOME environment variable set, but its value is not an existing directory (is_dir() returned false). The CLI refuses to guess and aborts so you can correct the path — typically it points to a wrong location or includes a stale NDK version folder that was removed during an SDK update.

Source

Thrown at crates/tauri-cli/src/mobile/android/mod.rs:605

  }

  Ok(())
}

fn ensure_ndk(non_interactive: bool) -> Result<()> {
  // re-evaluate ANDROID_HOME
  let android_home = std::env::var_os("ANDROID_HOME")
    .or_else(|| std::env::var_os("ANDROID_SDK_ROOT"))
    .map(PathBuf::from)
    .context("Failed to locate Android SDK")?;

  // check NDK_HOME
  let mut installed_ndks = if let Some(ndk_home) = std::env::var_os("NDK_HOME") {
    let ndk_path = PathBuf::from(ndk_home);
    if ndk_path.is_dir() {
      vec![ndk_path]
    } else {
      crate::error::bail!(
        "Android NDK invalid. Make sure the NDK_HOME environment variable has correct value."
      );
    }
  } else {
    read_dir(android_home.join("ndk"))
      .map(|dir| {
        dir
          .into_iter()
          .flat_map(|e| e.ok().map(|e| e.path()))
          .collect::<Vec<_>>()
      })
      .unwrap_or_default()
  };
  installed_ndks.sort();

  if let Some(ndk) = installed_ndks.last() {
    log::info!("Using installed NDK: {}", ndk.display());
    std::env::set_var("NDK_HOME", ndk);

View on GitHub (pinned to 52e4b6e71d)

Solutions

Point NDK_HOME at an existing NDK directory, e.g. `export NDK_HOME=$ANDROID_HOME/ndk/27.0.0` (pick a folder actually listed by `ls $ANDROID_HOME/ndk`)
If no NDK is installed, unset NDK_HOME entirely so the CLI can auto-detect or offer to install one
Restart your shell/CI job after fixing the export so the new value takes effect

Example fix

# before
export NDK_HOME="$HOME/Android/Sdk/ndk"          # or a removed version
# after
ls "$HOME/Android/Sdk/ndk"                       # see installed versions
export NDK_HOME="$HOME/Android/Sdk/ndk/27.0.0"   # an existing directory

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

if [ -n "$NDK_HOME" ] && [ ! -d "$NDK_HOME" ]; then
  echo "NDK_HOME points to a missing directory: $NDK_HOME"
  ls "$ANDROID_HOME/ndk" 2>/dev/null
  exit 1
fi

Prevention

Set NDK_HOME from the actual directory listing: export NDK_HOME=$(ls -d $ANDROID_HOME/ndk/* | tail -1)
Re-export NDK_HOME after upgrading the NDK (versioned folders change)
Never persist NDK_HOME in committed env files with hard-coded versions that go stale

When it happens

Trigger: NDK_HOME exported but pointing at a nonexistent path, a file instead of a directory, or $ANDROID_HOME/ndk/<old-version> left over from an NDK upgrade that deleted the folder.

Common situations: NDK updated via sdkmanager/Android Studio so the old versioned directory disappeared while the shell/CI env still exports it; typo in the path; trailing quotes or Windows path-style issues in env files.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of tauri-apps/tauri@52e4b6e71d (2026-08-20). Data as JSON: /api/errors/799da1879c814bfa. Report an issue: GitHub.