windmill-labs/windmill · error · LockfileGenerationError

Failed to generate lockfile: ${JSON.stringify(result, null,

Error message

Failed to generate lockfile: ${JSON.stringify(result, null, 2)}

What it means

The dependencies job succeeded (completion.success === true) but its result did not contain a `lock` field, so there is no lockfile to return. The CLI throws this LockfileGenerationError with the full JSON-dumped result so you can inspect what the job actually produced. This indicates a contract mismatch between the job's output shape and what the CLI expects.

Source

Thrown at cli/src/utils/metadata.ts:673

      { label: `deps ${remotePath}` },
    );
  } catch (e: any) {
    throw new LockfileGenerationError(
      `Failed to poll dependencies job ${jobId}: ${e?.message ?? e}`
    );
  }

  const result = completion.result as any;
  if (!completion.success) {
    const message =
      result?.error?.message ??
      (typeof result === "string" ? result : JSON.stringify(result, null, 2));
    throw new LockfileGenerationError(`Failed to generate lockfile: ${message}`);
  }

  const lock = result?.lock;
  if (lock === undefined) {
    throw new LockfileGenerationError(
      `Failed to generate lockfile: ${JSON.stringify(result, null, 2)}`
    );
  }
  if (cacheKey) {
    lockCache.set(cacheKey, lock);
  }
  return lock;
}

async function updateScriptLock(
  workspace: Workspace,
  scriptContent: string,
  language: ScriptLanguage,
  remotePath: string,
  metadataContent: Record<string, any>,
  rawWorkspaceDependencies: Record<string, string>,
  tempScriptRefs?: Record<string, string>,
  lockPathOverride?: string,

View on GitHub (pinned to e474e8803c)

Solutions

1. Upgrade or align the wmill CLI version with your server version (`wmill version` vs instance version; `npm i -g windmill-cli@latest`)
2. Inspect the JSON in the message to see what the job returned and whether `lock` is nested under a different key
3. Check for self-hosted modifications to the dependencies_async job that change its result shape
4. If behind a mock/gateway, fix the stub to return { success: true, result: { lock: "..." } }
5. Work around locally by committing the lockfile directly and skipping remote generation, then report the version mismatch

Example fix

// before: server returns success without lock, CLI fails
{"success": true, "result": {"ok": true}}
// after: align server/CLI so result carries the lock
{"success": true, "result": {"lock": "numpy==1.26.4\n..."}}

// validate the expected job result shape before using it
function looksLikeLockResult(result: any): boolean {
  return result != null && typeof result === "object" && typeof result.lock === "string";
}

function hasLock(
  result: any,
): result is { lock: string } {
  return (
    result != null &&
    typeof result === "object" &&
    typeof result.lock === "string" &&
    result.lock.length > 0
  );
}

try {
  const lock = await fetchScriptLock(workspace, content, language, path, deps);
} catch (e) {
  if (e instanceof LockfileGenerationError && e.message.includes("{\"")) {
    log.error(
      "Dependencies job returned no lock payload — likely CLI/server version mismatch. " +
      "Run `wmill version` and align the CLI with your instance, or inspect the returned JSON: " + e.message
    );
  } else throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: The job result lacks result.lock — e.g. an older/newer Windmill server whose dependencies job returns a different result shape, a job that returned success with an empty/partial payload, or a proxy mocking the API returning {"success": true} without the lock payload.

Common situations: CLI and server version skew (CLI expecting a `lock` field the deployed server's dependency job doesn't emit); custom/self-hosted patches to the dependencies job; a stubbed API gateway used in tests returning a success result without a lock.

Related errors

• Failed to generate lockfile: ${message}
• Cannot regenerate lock for flow ${remote_path}: missing inli
• Failed to queue flow dependencies job: ${queueResponse.statu
• Failed to poll flow dependencies job ${jobId}: ${e?.message
• Failed to generate lockfile: ${message}

AI-assisted analysis of windmill-labs/windmill@e474e8803c (2026-09-03). Data as JSON: /api/errors/fa974a0f8ee4f672. Report an issue: GitHub.