windmill-labs/windmill · error

File already exists: + scriptMetadataFileFullPath

Error message

File already exists: + scriptMetadataFileFullPath

What it means

The same bootstrap guard as the code file, applied to the metadata file (`<path>.script.yaml`). If that metadata file already exists on disk, bootstrap throws 'File already exists' for it. Like the code-file check, it rethrows only its own deliberate error and lets ENOENT pass.

Source

Thrown at cli/src/commands/script/script.ts:1656

  const config = await readConfigFile();

  const extension = filePathExtensionFromContentType(
    resolvedLanguage,
    config.defaultTs
  );
  const scriptCodeFileFullPath = scriptPath + extension;
  const scriptMetadataFileFullPath = scriptPath + ".script.yaml";

  try {
    await stat(scriptCodeFileFullPath);
    throw new Error("File already exists: " + scriptCodeFileFullPath);
  } catch (e: any) {
    if (e.message?.startsWith("File already exists")) throw e;
  }
  try {
    await stat(scriptMetadataFileFullPath);
    throw new Error("File already exists: " + scriptMetadataFileFullPath);
  } catch (e: any) {
    if (e.message?.startsWith("File already exists")) throw e;
  }

  const scriptMetadata = defaultScriptMetadata();
  if (opts.summary !== undefined) {
    scriptMetadata.summary = opts.summary;
  }
  if (opts.description !== undefined) {
    scriptMetadata.description = opts.description;
  }

  const scriptInitialMetadataYaml = yamlStringify(
    scriptMetadata as Record<string, any>,
    yamlOptions
  );

  const parentDir = path.dirname(scriptCodeFileFullPath);

View on GitHub (pinned to e474e8803c)

Solutions

1. Remove or rename the existing `.script.yaml` if bootstrapping fresh.
2. Use `wmill script pull` instead of bootstrap to sync an already-deployed script.
3. Choose a different path for the new script.
4. Manually edit the existing metadata instead of regenerating it.

Example fix

// before
wmill script bootstrap f/my_script go   # my_script.script.yaml exists from pull
// after
wmill script pull f/my_script   # or: mv f/my_script.script.yaml /tmp/backup.yaml

import { existsSync } from 'fs';
const metaFile = scriptPath + '.script.yaml';
if (existsSync(metaFile)) {
  // already synced/deployed — pull instead of bootstrap
  console.error(`${metaFile} exists; use 'wmill script pull' to sync.`);
  process.exit(1);
}

try {
  await wmill.script.bootstrap(p, lang);
} catch (e) {
  if (/File already exists: .*\.script\.yaml/.test(String(e.message))) {
    console.error('Metadata already present — edit it or pull from the instance.');
  }
  throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: `wmill script bootstrap <path> <lang>` when `<path>.script.yaml` already exists — e.g. the script was previously pulled/synced with `wmill script pull`, or a previous bootstrap created the metadata but the code file was deleted.

Common situations: Bootstrapping a script that was already synced from the instance via `wmill sync` or `pull`; re-running bootstrap after manually deleting only the code file; working in a repo where `.script.yaml` files are committed.

Understand the failure class

Background: "already exists" / EEXIST / FileAlreadyExistsException: what the 'file already exists' error means and how to fix it — this error's family across 37 libraries.

Related errors

• File already exists: + scriptCodeFileFullPath
• File not found: ${filePath}
• Workspace folder not found, are you in the right directory?
• Directory not found: ${targetDirectory}
• Path is not a directory: ${targetDirectory}

AI-assisted analysis of windmill-labs/windmill@e474e8803c (2026-09-03). Data as JSON: /api/errors/0189452738f647c0. Report an issue: GitHub.