What causes "Workspace "${override}" not found" in vercel/turborepo?

List actual workspace names (each workspace's package.json "name") and pass the exact string, including scope: --source @acme/utils not utils.

vercel/turborepo · warning

Workspace "${override}" not found

Error message

Workspace "${override}" not found

What it means

In `turbo gen workspace`, the source-workspace prompt accepts an override (typically a non-interactive flag) and looks it up by exact name in the list of detected workspaces (packages/turbo-gen/src/commands/workspace/prompts.ts:154-163). If no workspace matches the string, turbo logs this warning and falls back to the interactive select prompt.

Source

Thrown at packages/turbo-gen/src/commands/workspace/prompts.ts:163

  override,
  workspaces,
  workspaceName
}: {
  override?: string;
  workspaces: Array<Workspace | Separator>;
  workspaceName: string;
}) {
  if (override) {
    const workspaceSource = workspaces.find((workspace) => {
      if (workspace instanceof Separator) {
        return false;
      }
      return workspace.name === override;
    }) as Workspace | undefined;
    if (workspaceSource) {
      return { answer: workspaceSource };
    }
    logger.warn(`Workspace "${override}" not found`);
    logger.log();
  }

  const answer = await select<Workspace>({
    message: `Which workspace should "${workspaceName}" start from?`,
    loop: false,
    pageSize: 25,
    choices: workspaces.map((choice) => {
      if (choice instanceof Separator) {
        return choice;
      }
      return {
        name: `  ${choice.name}`,
        value: choice
      };
    })
  });

View on GitHub (pinned to f9245100cf)

Solutions

List actual workspace names (each workspace's package.json "name") and pass the exact string, including scope: --source @acme/utils not utils.
Re-run without the override to see the interactive list of valid names, then use one of those verbatim.
If the package was renamed, update the generator invocation in scripts/CI to the new name.
In non-interactive environments, validate the name against the workspace list before invoking the generator.

Example fix

# before: name typo / missing scope
pnpm turbo gen workspace --source acme-utils
# -> Workspace "acme-utils" not found

# after: exact package name from package.json
pnpm turbo gen workspace --source @acme/utils

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

import { execSync } from "node:child_process";

function assertWorkspaceExists(name: string, root: string): void {
  const workspaces: string[] = JSON.parse(
    execSync("pnpm m ls --depth -1 --json", { cwd: root }).toString()
  ).flatMap((p: { name: string }) => p.name);
  if (!workspaces.includes(name)) {
    throw new Error(
      `Workspace "${name}" not found. Valid: ${workspaces.join(", ")}`
    );
  }
}

Type guard

const isKnownWorkspace = (
  name: string,
  known: Set<string>
): name is (typeof known extends Set<infer T> ? T : never) => known.has(name);
// usage: if (!isKnownWorkspace(override, names)) -> prompt/abort instead of passing override

Prevention

Derive generator overrides from package.json names at runtime instead of hardcoding strings.
Use the same name string everywhere (CI scripts and docs) as in package.json, including @scope/.
Run once interactively to enumerate valid names, then codify them.

When it happens

Trigger: Calling the workspace generator with a --source/--workspace override whose value does not equal any workspace package name (names come from each package's package.json "name", plus workspace globs). Case differences, scoped-name typos, or paths instead of names fail the exact `workspace.name === override` comparison.

Common situations: CI or scripted invocations passing a guessed workspace name, refactors that renamed a package without updating the generator command, passing a directory path instead of the package name, or scoped packages where the @scope/ prefix was omitted.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of vercel/turborepo@f9245100cf (2026-08-17). Data as JSON: /api/errors/7d8767caead8c4ea. Report an issue: GitHub.