yamadashy/repomix · error · RepomixError

Failed to search for empty directories: ${error instanceof E

Error message

Failed to search for empty directories: ${error instanceof Error ? error.message : String(error)}

What it means

When `directoryStructure` and `includeEmptyDirectories` are enabled, Repomix searches for empty directories per root dir and merges their display paths; any exception in that search is rethrown as a RepomixError with the original error as `cause`. It means the empty-directory scan for the tree output failed.

Source

Thrown at src/core/output/outputGenerate.ts:417

        error instanceof Error ? { cause: error } : undefined,
      );
    }
  } else if (config.output.directoryStructure && config.output.includeEmptyDirectories) {
    // Reuse pre-computed emptyDirPaths from the initial searchFiles call when available,
    // avoiding a redundant full directory scan.
    if (emptyDirPaths) {
      directoryPathsForTree = emptyDirPaths;
    } else {
      try {
        const results = await Promise.all(rootDirs.map((rootDir) => deps.searchFiles(rootDir, config)));
        const merged = results.flatMap((result, index) => {
          const rootDir = rootDirs[index];
          if (!rootDir) return [];
          return result.emptyDirPaths.map((emptyDirPath) => toOutputDisplayPath(rootDir, emptyDirPath, index));
        });
        directoryPathsForTree = [...new Set(merged)].sort();
      } catch (error) {
        throw new RepomixError(
          `Failed to search for empty directories: ${error instanceof Error ? error.message : String(error)}`,
          error instanceof Error ? { cause: error } : undefined,
        );
      }
    }
  }

  // Generate tree string - use multi-root format if filePathsByRoot is provided
  // generateTreeStringWithRoots handles single root case internally
  let treeString: string;
  if (filePathsByRoot) {
    treeString = generateTreeStringWithRoots(filePathsByRoot, directoryPathsForTree);
  } else {
    // Fallback for when root info is not available
    treeString = generateTreeString(filePathsForTree, directoryPathsForTree);
  }

  return {

View on GitHub (pinned to f465ad9093)

Solutions

1. Inspect `error.cause` for the underlying scan failure.
2. Restore read permissions on directories being scanned.
3. Disable `includeEmptyDirectories` if the empty-dir tree is not essential.
4. Re-run to rule out a transient race (directory deleted during scan).

Example fix

// before (repomix.json)
"directoryStructure": true,
"includeEmptyDirectories": true
// after (workaround when scan fails on unreadable dirs)
"directoryStructure": true,
"includeEmptyDirectories": false

// Check tree readability before enabling empty-dir scan
import fs from 'node:fs/promises';
await fs.access(config.cwd, fs.constants.R_OK);

null

try {
  await pack({ ...config, output: { ...config.output, includeEmptyDirectories: true } });
} catch (e) {
  if (e instanceof RepomixError && e.message.startsWith('Failed to search for empty directories')) {
    console.error('empty-dir scan failed:', e.cause ?? e);
    await pack({ ...config, output: { ...config.output, includeEmptyDirectories: false } });
  } else throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Enabling `output.includeEmptyDirectories: true` with `directoryStructure: true` and the empty-dir search call (executed per rootDir, mapped through toOutputDisplayPath) throws — typically an underlying filesystem walk error.

Common situations: Running against a directory tree with unreadable subdirectories; errors on exotic filesystems (Windows reserved names, network shares); race where a directory disappears mid-scan.

Understand the failure class

Background: Permission denied / not authorized / 403 Forbidden: access-control rejections when the caller lacks the required role, grant, or ownership — this error's family across 18 libraries.

Related errors

• Failed to build full directory structure: ${error instanceof
• Failed to copy output file to ${targetPath}: Permission deni
• Failed to copy output file: ${(error as Error).message}
• Refusing to trust ${configName}: the remote repository's con
• Refusing to trust ${configName}: it resolves outside the clo

AI-assisted analysis of yamadashy/repomix@f465ad9093 (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/5c08174428df5a8e. Report an issue: GitHub.