usebruno/bruno · error · Error

Invalid workspace directory name: ${dirPath}

Error message

Invalid workspace directory name: ${dirPath}

What it means

`validateWorkspaceDirectory` runs `validateName(path.basename(dirPath))` and throws when the directory's base name contains characters Bruno disallows. It is a name-sanitization guard used when creating/registering a workspace directory.

Source

Thrown at packages/bruno-electron/src/utils/workspace-config.js:186

  if (!workspacePath) {
    throw new Error('Workspace path is required');
  }

  if (!fs.existsSync(workspacePath)) {
    throw new Error(`Workspace path does not exist: ${workspacePath}`);
  }

  const workspaceFilePath = path.join(workspacePath, 'workspace.yml');
  if (!fs.existsSync(workspaceFilePath)) {
    throw new Error('Invalid workspace: workspace.yml not found');
  }

  return true;
};

const validateWorkspaceDirectory = (dirPath) => {
  if (!validateName(path.basename(dirPath))) {
    throw new Error(`Invalid workspace directory name: ${dirPath}`);
  }
  return true;
};

const createWorkspaceConfig = (workspaceName) => ({
  opencollection: OPENCOLLECTION_VERSION,
  info: {
    name: workspaceName,
    type: WORKSPACE_TYPE
  },
  collections: [],
  specs: [],
  docs: ''
});

const normalizeWorkspaceConfig = (config) => {
  // Coerce `specs` to an array once. A malformed workspace.yml (e.g. `specs`
  // authored as a map) would otherwise flow through as a non-array and crash

View on GitHub (pinned to 9bdd81c7bd)

Solutions

1. Rename the folder to a clean, single-segment name with no special characters.
2. Normalize the path (`path.normalize`) before deriving the basename.
3. Generate the folder name from the workspace name using the same rules `validateName` enforces.

Example fix

// before
validateWorkspaceDirectory('/work/my "bad" workspace/');

// after
validateWorkspaceDirectory('/work/my-workspace');

const path = require('path');
const { validateName } = require('./filesystem');
function ensureValidDirName(p) {
  const base = path.basename(path.normalize(p));
  if (!validateName(base)) throw new Error(`Invalid workspace directory name: ${base}`);
  return p;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Creating a workspace whose folder name fails `validateName` — typically disallowed characters or an empty/whitespace-only basename.

Common situations: Folder names with slashes, NULs, or OS-forbidden characters; a path that ended in a separator leaving an empty basename; copy-pasted names with quotes or control chars; non-normalized relative paths.

Related errors

• Workspace must have a valid name
• Workspace path not found
• No files selected
• Invalid file type: ${file.name}. Only JSON files are support
• ${request.filename} is not a valid filename

AI-assisted analysis of usebruno/bruno@9bdd81c7bd (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/504febb5295ea359. Report an issue: GitHub.