windmill-labs/windmill · error

${str} does not start with ${prefix}

Error message

${str} does not start with ${prefix}

What it means

removePathPrefix strips a known prefix (e.g. u/<user>, f/<folder>) from a sync path and asserts the string actually starts with it; being called with a path lacking that prefix means the item is outside the directory layout the caller assumed.

Source

Thrown at cli/src/types.ts:530

    scriptPath: match[1],
    isFlow: match[2] === "flow",
    externalId: match[3],
    serviceName: match[4],
  };
}

export function removePathPrefix(str: string, prefix: string) {
  // Normalize paths for cross-platform compatibility and convert to forward slashes for API consistency
  const normalizedStr = path.normalize(str).replaceAll(SEP, "/");
  const normalizedPrefix = path.normalize(prefix).replaceAll(SEP, "/");

  // Handle exact match case
  if (normalizedStr === normalizedPrefix) {
    return "";
  }

  if (!normalizedStr.startsWith(normalizedPrefix + "/")) {
    throw new Error(str + " does not start with " + prefix);
  }
  return normalizedStr.slice(normalizedPrefix.length + 1);
}

View on GitHub (pinned to e474e8803c)

Solutions

1. Check that the path is inside the expected prefix directory for this item type.
2. Fix the path layout so items sit under the folder the sync expects.
3. Check for mixed separators or double slashes that break prefix matching.

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at cli/src/types.ts:530 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of windmill-labs/windmill@e474e8803c (2026-09-03). Data as JSON: /api/errors/c6a6ad1d690ec534. Report an issue: GitHub.