tauri-apps/tauri · error

unable to find isolation file

Error message

unable to find isolation file

What it means

Part of Isolation Pattern processing: after resolving each script's src against the app's dist directory, Tauri reads the referenced file and inlines its contents into the HTML. The expect fires when std::fs::read_to_string(dir.join(path)) errors: the file does not exist at the joined path, a parent directory is missing, permission is denied, or the file is not valid UTF-8.

Source

Thrown at crates/tauri-utils/src/html.rs:276

    .expect("unable to parse document for scripts")
  {
    let src = {
      let attributes = script.attributes.borrow();
      attributes
        .get(LocalName::from("src"))
        .expect("script with src attribute has no src value")
        .to_string()
    };

    let mut path = PathBuf::from(src);
    if path.has_root() {
      path = path
        .strip_prefix("/")
        .expect("Tauri \"Isolation\" Pattern only supports relative or absolute (`/`) paths.")
        .into();
    }

    let file = std::fs::read_to_string(dir.join(path)).expect("unable to find isolation file");
    script.as_node().append(NodeRef::new_text(file));

    let mut attributes = script.attributes.borrow_mut();
    attributes.remove(LocalName::from("src"));
  }
}

// TODO: Verify this, this is not found in the HTML spec, see https://github.com/tauri-apps/tauri/pull/14265#discussion_r2415396842
/// Normalize line endings in script content to match what the browser uses for CSP hashing.
///
/// According to the HTML spec, browsers normalize:
/// - `\r\n` → `\n`
/// - `\r`   → `\n`
pub fn normalize_script_for_csp(input: &[u8]) -> Vec<u8> {
  let mut output = Vec::with_capacity(input.len());

  let mut i = 0;
  while i < input.len() {

View on GitHub (pinned to 52e4b6e71d)

Solutions

1. Verify the file exists at <frontendDist>/<src> exactly as referenced (mind ../ segments, resolved literally against the dist dir).
2. Fix the src to point at a file the frontend build actually emits into dist.
3. If the script is generated, run the generator before tauri dev / tauri build processes the HTML.
4. Check that tauri.conf.json app.frontendDist matches the folder containing the script.

Example fix

<!-- before: file lives in dist/isolation/index.js -->
<script src="../../src/isolation/index.js"></script>

<!-- after -->
<script src="isolation/index.js"></script>

// pre-flight before tauri dev/build: every src must exist under dist
let dist = std::path::Path::new("../path/to/dist");
for src in collect_script_srcs("isolation/index.html") {
    let p = dist.join(src.trim_start_matches('/'));
    assert!(p.is_file(), "isolation script missing: {}", p.display());
}

When it happens

Trigger: A script src in the isolation index.html pointing at a file that is not inside the frontend dist directory when Tauri processes it: wrong ../ levels, typo, file not emitted by the frontend build, or tauri.conf.json frontendDist pointing at a different folder.

Common situations: Bundler config that skips copying the isolation script into dist; referencing a file in src/ or node_modules/ that never lands in dist; changing the dist directory without updating script paths.

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

• unable to find isolation file
• Tauri "Isolation" Pattern only supports relative or absolute
• Tauri "Isolation" Pattern only supports relative or absolute
• File does not exist at path: {path}
• The isolation application path is set to `{dir:?}` but it do

AI-assisted analysis of tauri-apps/tauri@52e4b6e71d (2026-08-20). Data as JSON: /api/errors/64d85b615faeca75. Report an issue: GitHub.