tauri-apps/tauri · error

File does not exist at path

Error message

File does not exist at path: {path}

What it means

Fires in the tauri custom asset protocol handler (get_response) when File::open on the requested path fails, i.e. the resolved asset path does not exist on disk or is unreadable. The HTTP response returned to the webview carries the formatted error message with the offending path.

Solutions

1. Check the file exists (and is spelled correctly) before building/using the asset URL in the frontend
2. Regenerate or re-download the asset if it was temporary and has been cleaned up
3. Handle the 404 in the webview (e.g. re-invoke the backend to refresh the file) instead of showing a broken image

Example fix

// before
const url = convertFileSrc(staleCache.path);
// after
const exists = await invoke('file_exists', { path: staleCache.path });
if (!exists) await regenerateFile();
const url = convertFileSrc(staleCache.path);

import { exists, BaseDirectory } from '@tauri-apps/plugin-fs';
const ok = await exists(path, { baseDir: BaseDirectory.Home });
if (!ok) throw new Error(`asset missing: ${path}`);

function assetExists(p: string): boolean {
  try { return statSync(p).isFile(); } catch { return false; }
}

const resp = await fetch(assetUrl);
if (resp.status === 404) {
  await regenerateAsset(path); // then re-request with fresh URL
}

When it happens

Trigger: File::open(path) inside get_response returns std::io::ErrorKind::NotFound — the webview requested an asset:// URL for a path that was deleted, moved, or never existed.

Common situations: Frontend caches an asset URL after the file was deleted/renamed; race where an export/temp file hasn't been written yet; typo in path or wrong drive letter/case on Windows; external storage file removed on Android.

Understand the failure class

Background: "File not found" and ENOENT errors: why libraries can't find a file that should exist — this error's family across 50 libraries.

Related errors

• asset protocol path " " is not valid
• asset protocol path " " is not valid
• failed to canonicalize global API script path
• failed to get exe directory
• failed to get random bytes

AI-assisted analysis of tauri-apps/tauri@460ec35447 (2026-09-18). Data as JSON: /api/errors/76d8f0bc38f2df4a. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at crates/tauri/src/protocol/asset.rs:65

    log::error!("asset protocol not configured to allow the path: {path}");
    return resp.status(403).body(Vec::new().into()).map_err(Into::into);
  }

  // Separate block for easier error handling
  let mut file = match File::open(path.clone()) {
    Ok(file) => file,
    Err(e) => {
      #[cfg(target_os = "android")]
      {
        if path.starts_with("/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/") {
          log::error!(
            "Failed to open Android external storage file '{path}': {e}. This may be due to missing storage permissions."
          );
        }
      }
      return if e.kind() == std::io::ErrorKind::NotFound {
        log::error!("File does not exist at path: {path}");
        return resp.status(404).body(Vec::new().into()).map_err(Into::into);
      } else if e.kind() == std::io::ErrorKind::PermissionDenied {
        log::error!("Missing OS permission to access path \"{path}\": {e}");
        return resp.status(403).body(Vec::new().into()).map_err(Into::into);
      } else {
        Err(e.into())
      };
    }
  };

  let len = file.metadata()?.len();
  let (mime_type, read_bytes) = {
    // get file mime type
    let nbytes = len.min(8192);
    let mut magic_buf = Vec::with_capacity(nbytes as usize);
    (&mut file).take(nbytes).read_to_end(&mut magic_buf)?;
    file.rewind()?;
    (
      MimeType::parse(&magic_buf, &path),

View on GitHub (pinned to 460ec35447)