vitest-dev/vitest · error · LocationFilterFileNotFoundError

VITEST_LOCATION_FILTER_FILE_NOT_FOUND

VITEST_LOCATION_FILTER_FILE_NOT_FOUND

Error message

Couldn't find file ${filename}. Note when specifying the test location you have to specify the full test filename.

What it means

Thrown as `LocationFilterFileNotFoundError` (code `VITEST_LOCATION_FILTER_FILE_NOT_FOUND`) from `globTestSpecifications` (specifications.ts:86) when a location filter specifies a file that no project's test glob matched. After globbing test files for every project, Vitest checks each requested location file; if a requested file (with non-empty line filters) was never matched, it reports the filename so the user knows the path didn't resolve to a known test file.

Source

Thrown at packages/vitest/src/node/specifications.ts:86

        testLocHasMatch[file] = true

        const spec = project.createSpecification(file, lines)
        this.ensureSpecificationCached(spec)
        files.push(spec)
      })
      typecheckTestFiles.forEach((file) => {
        const lines = testLines[file]
        testLocHasMatch[file] = true

        const spec = project.createSpecification(file, lines, 'typescript')
        this.ensureSpecificationCached(spec)
        files.push(spec)
      })
    }))

    Object.entries(testLines).forEach(([filepath, loc]) => {
      if (loc.length !== 0 && !testLocHasMatch[filepath]) {
        throw new LocationFilterFileNotFoundError(
          relative(dir, filepath),
        )
      }
    })

    return files
  }

  public clearCache(moduleId?: string): void {
    if (moduleId) {
      this._cachedSpecs.delete(moduleId)
    }
    else {
      this._cachedSpecs.clear()
    }
  }

  private getCachedSpecifications(moduleId: string): TestSpecification[] | undefined {

View on GitHub (pinned to d568f8ce37)

Solutions

1. Use the full, correct test filename relative to the cwd (or absolute).
2. Check the project's `include`/`exclude` globs to confirm the file is treated as a test.
3. Run from the directory the test path is relative to, or pass an absolute path.
4. Ensure at least one enabled project's test glob matches the file.

Example fix

# before
vitest src/wrong-name.test.ts:10
# after
vitest src/utils/calc.test.ts:10

import { existsSync } from 'node:fs'
import { resolve } from 'node:path'
const file = resolve(process.cwd(), userFilter.replace(/:\d+$/, ''))
if (!existsSync(file)) throw new Error(`Test file not found: ${file}`)

When it happens

Trigger: Passing `vitest ./src/foo.test.ts:5` where `foo.test.ts` is not under any project's `include` glob or is outside the project root; using a relative path that doesn't resolve against `process.cwd()`; a typo in the test filename; the file exists but isn't considered a test file by any project.

Common situations: Wrong working directory; `include` pattern excludes the file; filename typo; referencing a file that lives in a different project not enabled in this run.

Related errors

• VITEST_INCLUDE_TASK_LOCATION_DISABLED
• Couldn't write file to fs
• Tester HTML file "${testerHtmlPath}" doesn't exist.
• Access denied to "${path}". See Vite config documentation fo
• Snapshot file "${id}" does not exist.

AI-assisted analysis of vitest-dev/vitest@d568f8ce37 (2026-08-03). Data as JSON: /data/errors/472b1db1cc73eb93.json. Report an issue: GitHub.