What causes "failed to create archive.tar.gz: {}" in zed-industries/zed?

Run `tar --version` in the same shell/environment the CLI runs in; if missing, install tar (Windows 10+ ships bsdtar, Linux: apt/apk add tar) or add it to PATH.

zed-industries/zed · error · anyhow::Error

failed to create archive.tar.gz: {}

Error message

failed to create archive.tar.gz: {}

What it means

The extension CLI builds the submit-able bundle by shelling out to the system tar binary (tar -czvf archive.tar.gz -C archive .) from the output directory. This bail fires when that child process exits with a non-zero status, and the message embeds tar's stderr verbatim. It is a wrapper around an external-tool failure, not a Rust-side packaging error.

Source

Thrown at crates/extension_cli/src/main.rs:149

    fs.remove_dir(
        &archive_dir,
        RemoveOptions {
            recursive: true,
            ignore_if_not_exists: true,
        },
    )
    .await
    .ok();
    copy_extension_resources(&manifest, &extension_path, &archive_dir, fs.clone())
        .await
        .context("failed to copy extension resources")?;

    let tar_output = Command::new("tar")
        .current_dir(&output_dir)
        .args(["-czvf", "archive.tar.gz", "-C", "archive", "."])
        .output()
        .await
        .context("failed to run tar")?;
    if !tar_output.status.success() {
        bail!(
            "failed to create archive.tar.gz: {}",
            String::from_utf8_lossy(&tar_output.stderr)
        );
    }

    let manifest_json = serde_json::to_string(&cloud_api_types::ExtensionApiManifest {
        name: manifest.name,
        version: manifest.version,
        description: manifest.description,
        authors: manifest.authors,
        schema_version: Some(manifest.schema_version.0),
        repository: manifest
            .repository
            .context("missing repository in extension manifest")?,
        wasm_api_version: manifest.lib.version.map(|version| version.to_string()),
        provides: extension_provides,

View on GitHub (pinned to 9d272b0363)

Solutions

Run `tar --version` in the same shell/environment the CLI runs in; if missing, install tar (Windows 10+ ships bsdtar, Linux: apt/apk add tar) or add it to PATH.
Read the tar stderr embedded in the bail message — it names the actual failing operation (permission, disk, missing file).
Check the output directory is writable and has disk space (`df -h`, `ls -ld <output-dir>`).
Re-run the pack command from the project root so the relative `archive` staging directory resolves.

Example fix

# before: minimal CI container without tar
FROM cgr.dev/chainguard/latest
RUN zed extension pack

# after: ensure tar is present
FROM cgr.dev/chainguard/latest
RUN apk add --no-cache tar
RUN zed extension pack

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

use std::process::Command;

fn tar_available() -> bool {
    Command::new("tar")
        .arg("--version")
        .output()
        .map(|out| out.status.success())
        .unwrap_or(false)
}

// run before invoking the packaging command
assert!(tar_available(), "tar is required on PATH to pack extensions");

Try / catch

match Command::new("tar").args(["-czvf", "archive.tar.gz", "-C", "archive", "."]).output().await {
    Ok(out) if out.status.success() => { /* proceed */ }
    Ok(out) => bail!("failed to create archive.tar.gz: {}", String::from_utf8_lossy(&out.stderr)),
    Err(e) => return Err(e).context("failed to run tar"),
}

Prevention

Include tar in CI images explicitly (apt-get install tar / apk add tar).
Run packaging from the project root so relative staging paths resolve.
Fail the pipeline early with a tar --version preflight check instead of at pack time.

When it happens

Trigger: Running `zed extension pack` (ExtensionPack command in crates/extension_cli/src/main.rs) when `tar` is not on PATH, when the `archive` staging directory cannot be read, when the output directory is read-only or full, or when tar itself reports an error on stderr and exits non-zero.

Common situations: Windows machines without bsdtar available; minimal CI images (distroless, micro) that omit tar; corporate build sandboxes that strip PATH; read-only or quota-exhausted output directories; running the CLI from a directory whose relative `archive` path does not resolve.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of zed-industries/zed@9d272b0363 (2026-08-20). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e1a5ddfdd25270bc. Report an issue: GitHub.