windmill-labs/windmill · error · Error

No instance found, please add one first

Error message

No instance found, please add one first

What it means

pickInstance resolves which Windmill instance profile the CLI should operate on from locally saved instances. When no instance name can be interactively chosen (allowNew is false) and there are zero saved profiles, it throws this error telling you to add one first.

Source

Thrown at cli/src/commands/instance/instance.ts:240

  }
  // Try to use the active workspace profile's remote as a fallback
  if (instances.length < 1) {
    try {
      const ws = await getActiveWorkspace({});
      if (ws?.remote && ws?.token) {
        const remote = ws.remote.endsWith("/") ? ws.remote.slice(0, -1) : ws.remote;
        setClient(ws.token, remote);
        return {
          name: ws.name,
          remote: ws.remote,
          token: ws.token,
          prefix: ws.name,
        };
      }
    } catch { /* ignore */ }
  }
  if (!allowNew && instances.length < 1) {
    throw new Error("No instance found, please add one first");
  }
  const instanceName = await getActiveInstance(opts);
  let instance: Instance | undefined = instances.find(
    (i) => i.name === instanceName,
  );
  if (!instance) {
    if (instances.length < 1) {
      instance = await addInstance({}, undefined, undefined, undefined);
    } else {
      const choice = (await Select.prompt({
        message: "Select an instance",
        options: [
          ...instances.map((i) => ({
            name: `${i.name} (${i.remote})`,
            value: i.name,
          })),
          { name: "Add new instance", value: "new" },
        ],

View on GitHub (pinned to e474e8803c)

Solutions

1. Run 'wmill instance add' and provide the instance URL and token
2. In CI, set the required env config or pre-seed the CLI config file before running commands
3. Verify you run as the same user/HOME that holds the existing wmill config
4. List what the CLI sees with 'wmill instance list' (or equivalent) to confirm the config path

Example fix

// before: command fails because no profile exists
wmill whoami
// after: register the instance first
wmill instance add https://app.windmill.dev <token> --name prod
wmill whoami

import { allInstances } from "..."; // or check config file
const hasInstance = (await allInstances()).length > 0;
if (!hasInstance) {
  throw new Error("Run 'wmill instance add' before this command");
}

try {
  await wmillInstanceCommand();
} catch (e) {
  if (String(e).includes("No instance found")) {
    console.error("Register an instance first: wmill instance add <url> <token>");
  }
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling any command that needs an instance config (wmill instance, whoami, getConfig, worker-group pull/push, etc.) on a machine where 'wmill instance add' has never been run, in non-interactive mode where creating a new instance is not allowed.

Common situations: Fresh CI runner or container with no ~/.wmill config; running the CLI under a different user/home than where the instance was added; deleted or missing global settings file.

Related errors

• No local instance profile named ${instanceName}
• No active instance. Run 'wmill instance add' or pass --insta
• Active instance ${activeName} not found in config
• No base branches are configured in wmill.yaml's workspaces s
• Could not resolve parent workspace. Make sure you are in a g

AI-assisted analysis of windmill-labs/windmill@e474e8803c (2026-09-03). Data as JSON: /api/errors/2b487725e92d6d01. Report an issue: GitHub.