thanos-io/thanos · error

unable to access path

Error message

unable to access path '%s'

What it means

This error is returned by the `thanos tools bucket upload` command when the directory specified by the --path flag cannot be accessed. The command calls promclient.IsDirAccessible on tbc.path before shipping local blocks to object storage; if that check fails, the underlying stat/open error is wrapped with the target path. It means the process either cannot see the directory or it is not a readable directory.

Solutions

1. Verify the path exists and is a directory: ls -ld <path>; correct the --path value if there is a typo
2. Check filesystem permissions (ls -ld each path component) and run the tool as a user with read/execute access, or fix ownership with chown/chmod
3. If running in Kubernetes/Docker, confirm the data directory is mounted into the container at the same path
4. Ensure you point at the block storage directory (TSDB dir), not a single block or meta.json file

Example fix

// before
thanos tools bucket upload --path /var/thanos/typo-dir --objstore.bucket.config-file=bucket.yaml
// after
thanos tools bucket upload --path /var/thanos/store-dir --objstore.bucket.config-file=bucket.yaml

info, err := os.Stat(path)
if err != nil {
    return fmt.Errorf("path %q not accessible: %w", path, err)
}
if !info.IsDir() {
    return fmt.Errorf("%q is not a directory", path)
}
// also ensure readability:
if f, err := os.Open(path); err != nil {
    return fmt.Errorf("directory %q not readable: %w", path, err)
} else {
    f.Close()
}

When it happens

Trigger: Running `thanos tools bucket upload --path <dir>` where the path does not exist, is a regular file instead of a directory, the path contains a typo or relative-path mistake, or the OS user running thanos lacks read/execute permission on the directory or a parent.

Common situations: Typos in --path; running the tool inside a container where the data directory was not volume-mounted; running as a non-root user without permissions on the Prometheus data dir; pointing at a file (e.g. a block meta.json) instead of the directory; wrong working directory when using a relative path.

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

• invalid reload method
• unable to open tbc directory
• failed to parse template
• failed to execute template
• failed to parse the template

AI-assisted analysis of thanos-io/thanos@35b8b99117 (2026-09-07). Data as JSON: /api/errors/4ab3e7e094931d64. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at cmd/thanos/tools_bucket.go:1473

}

func registerBucketUploadBlocks(app extkingpin.AppClause, objStoreConfig *extflag.PathOrContent) {
	cmd := app.Command("upload-blocks", "Upload blocks push blocks from the provided path to the object storage.")

	tbc := &bucketUploadBlocksConfig{}
	tbc.registerBucketUploadBlocksFlag(cmd)

	cmd.Setup(func(g *run.Group, logger log.Logger, reg *prometheus.Registry, _ opentracing.Tracer, _ <-chan struct{}, _ bool) error {
		if len(tbc.labels) == 0 {
			return errors.New("no external labels configured, uniquely identifying external labels must be configured; see https://thanos.io/tip/thanos/storage.md#external-labels for details.")
		}

		lset, err := parseFlagLabels(tbc.labels)
		if err != nil {
			return errors.Wrap(err, "unable to parse external labels")
		}
		if err := promclient.IsDirAccessible(tbc.path); err != nil {
			return errors.Wrapf(err, "unable to access path '%s'", tbc.path)
		}

		confContentYaml, err := objStoreConfig.Content()
		if err != nil {
			return errors.Wrap(err, "unable to parse objstore config")
		}

		bkt, err := client.NewBucket(logger, confContentYaml, component.Upload.String(), nil)
		if err != nil {
			return errors.Wrap(err, "unable to create bucket")
		}

		bkt = objstoretracing.WrapWithTraces(objstore.WrapWithMetrics(bkt, extprom.WrapRegistererWithPrefix("thanos_", reg), bkt.Name()))

		tbcDir, err := os.OpenRoot(tbc.path)
		if err != nil {
			runutil.CloseWithLogOnErr(logger, bkt, "bucket client")
			return errors.Wrap(err, "unable to open tbc directory")

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