What causes "No log files found at {}. Is the service installed?" in zeroclaw-labs/zeroclaw?

Install and start the service: zeroclaw service install --service-init openrc && zeroclaw service start

zeroclaw-labs/zeroclaw · warning · anyhow::Error

No log files found at

Error message

No log files found at {}. Is the service installed?

What it means

For OpenRC installs, logs_linux expects logs under the OpenRC log dir (defaulting to /var/log/<service>/) with error.log preferred and access.log as fallback. If neither file exists it bails, assuming the OpenRC service was never installed or has not run yet.

Solutions

Install and start the service: zeroclaw service install --service-init openrc && zeroclaw service start
Verify state with rc-service <name> status and check the log dir directly
Confirm the init script's daemon logging paths match linux_openrc_log_dir's derivation

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

let log_dir = openrc_log_dir(); // /var/log/<service> per the init script
if !log_dir.join("error.log").exists() && !log_dir.join("access.log").exists() {
    // service never ran: start it before requesting logs
}

Prevention

Start the OpenRC service and confirm rc-service status before reading logs
Ensure /var/log/<service> is writable by the daemon user
Keep the init script's log paths aligned with the runtime's derivation

When it happens

Trigger: 'zeroclaw service logs --service-init openrc' before the daemon wrote any logs: service not installed, installed but not started, or the init script writing to a different log dir.

Common situations: Gentu/Alpine-style hosts where logs runs before the first start; custom init script with a relocated log dir; permissions preventing log creation under /var/log.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of zeroclaw-labs/zeroclaw@88bb9c8533 (2026-08-23). Data as JSON: /api/errors/d5bfe32e5306cb84. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at crates/zeroclaw-runtime/src/service/mod.rs:1023

        InitSystem::Systemd => {
            let args = linux_journalctl_args(config, lines, follow);
            let status = Command::new("journalctl")
                .args(&args)
                .status()
                .context("Failed to run journalctl")?;
            if !status.success() {
                bail!("journalctl exited with non-zero status");
            }
        }
        InitSystem::Openrc => {
            // OpenRC logs go to /var/log/<service>/error.log (as configured in the init script).
            let log_dir = linux_openrc_log_dir(config);
            let log_file = log_dir.join("error.log");
            if !log_file.exists() {
                // Fall back to access log
                let access_log = log_dir.join("access.log");
                if !access_log.exists() {
                    bail!(
                        "No log files found at {}. Is the service installed?",
                        log_dir.display()
                    );
                }
                return tail_file(&access_log, lines, follow);
            }
            tail_file(&log_file, lines, follow)?;
        }
        InitSystem::Auto => unreachable!("Auto should be resolved before this point"),
    }
    Ok(())
}

fn logs_windows(config: &Config, lines: usize, follow: bool) -> Result<()> {
    let logs_dir = config
        .config_path
        .parent()
        .map_or_else(|| PathBuf::from("."), PathBuf::from)

View on GitHub (pinned to 88bb9c8533)