yarnpkg/yarn · error · MessageError

ENOENT

ENOENT

Error message

Couldn't find a package.json file in $0

What it means

Thrown by `readManifest` (code 'ENOENT') when `maybeReadManifest` returns null for a directory — neither a yarn-metadata.json in cache nor a package.json under any registry filename was found. This is a hard failure variant of the soft null return; callers that require a manifest use `readManifest`, soft callers use `maybeReadManifest`.

Source

Thrown at src/config.js:690

        remote: metadata.remote,
        registry: metadata.registry,
      };
    });
  }

  /**
   * Read normalized package info according yarn-metadata.json
   * throw an error if package.json was not found
   */

  readManifest(dir: string, priorityRegistry?: RegistryNames, isRoot?: boolean = false): Promise<Manifest> {
    return this.getCache(`manifest-${dir}`, async (): Promise<Manifest> => {
      const manifest = await this.maybeReadManifest(dir, priorityRegistry, isRoot);

      if (manifest) {
        return manifest;
      } else {
        throw new MessageError(this.reporter.lang('couldntFindPackagejson', dir), 'ENOENT');
      }
    });
  }

  /**
   * try get the manifest file by looking
   * 1. manifest file in cache
   * 2. manifest file in registry
   */
  async maybeReadManifest(dir: string, priorityRegistry?: RegistryNames, isRoot?: boolean = false): Promise<?Manifest> {
    const metadataLoc = path.join(dir, constants.METADATA_FILENAME);

    if (await fs.exists(metadataLoc)) {
      const metadata = await this.readJson(metadataLoc);

      if (!priorityRegistry) {
        priorityRegistry = metadata.priorityRegistry;
      }

View on GitHub (pinned to c2dda503f3)

Solutions

  1. Run `yarn cache clean` and re-run `yarn install` to regenerate missing metadata.
  2. Remove the offending `node_modules` directory and reinstall: `rm -rf node_modules && yarn install`.
  3. If a workspace package is referenced, ensure its directory contains a valid package.json.
  4. Inspect the `dir` value in the error to find which package is missing its manifest.

Example fix

# before (broken cache/workspace)
yarn install
# after
yarn cache clean
rm -rf node_modules
yarn install
Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

const fs = require('fs');
const path = require('path');

async function manifestExists(dir) {
  const pkg = path.join(dir, 'package.json');
  const meta = path.join(dir, '.yarn-metadata.json');
  return fs.existsSync(pkg) || fs.existsSync(meta);
}

if (!(await manifestExists(targetDir))) {
  console.error(`No package.json in ${targetDir} — run yarn install or restore the file.`);
  process.exit(1);
}

Try / catch

try {
  return await config.readManifest(dir, priorityRegistry, isRoot);
} catch (err) {
  if (err.code === 'ENOENT' && err instanceof MessageError) {
    // gracefully skip or trigger reinstall
    await fs.unlink(dir).catch(() => {});
    throw new Error(`Missing manifest at ${dir} — run yarn cache clean && yarn install`);
  }
  throw err;
}

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: Calling `config.readManifest(dir)` where `dir` contains no package.json and no .yarn-metadata.json. Typically reached during install/link when a cache entry references a directory whose package.json was deleted, or when a workspace glob points at an empty/incomplete package.

Common situations: Corrupted or partially-deleted cache entry. A workspace folder exists but its package.json was removed. A dependency directory was truncated by an interrupted install. Manual deletion of node_modules contents.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of yarnpkg/yarn@c2dda503f3 (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/f0443bc099305a9f. Report an issue: GitHub.