The "list[2]" argument must be an instance of Buffer or Uint8Array. Received type string ('fileName

[mcz-adhamsabry]

Version

v22.21.0

Platform

rmSync and removeSync fail to delete directories and I get the error below:

The "list[2]" argument must be an instance of Buffer or Uint8Array. Received type string ('fileName

You can reproduce it by deleting `node_modules` directory using either method.

Subsystem

macos

What steps will reproduce the bug?

Use the method to delete node_modules directory that would contain .bin folder as an example. and the function will fail with the given error above.

How often does it reproduce? Is there a required condition?

All the time

What is the expected behavior? Why is that the expected behavior?

delete should be successful, the error is misleading

What do you see instead?

The "list[2]" argument must be an instance of Buffer or Uint8Array. Received type string ('fileName

Additional information

No response

[ChALkeR]

Could you share reproduction code?
Is that node:fs import or e.g. the yarn wrapper?

Also, stack trace might be helpful

[ChALkeR]

I think you are most likely using https://yarnpkg.com/api/yarnpkg-fslib/class/NodeFS or similar, which is a yarn lib (@yarnpkg/fslib), not Node.js core API

[mcz-adhamsabry]

Hello @ChALkeR ,

thanks for helping, here is the full stack traces:

On my side, it just fails

[TypeError]  The "list[2]" argument must be an instance of Buffer or Uint8Array. Received type string ('<file-name-in-the-dir-to-be-deleted, example: "some-archive">.zip') [1761982862610] [GET] [/latest/agent/request-update]  "Failed to delete /<project-path>/data/updates/0.1.798, resolving to removeSync"
stack: TypeError [ERR_INVALID_ARG_TYPE]: The "list[2]" argument must be an instance of Buffer or Uint8Array. Received type string ('<file-name-in-the-dir-to-be-deleted, example: "some-archive">.zip')
    at Function.concat (node:buffer:602:13)
    at node:internal/fs/rimraf:252:34
    at Array.forEach (<anonymous>)
    at _rmdirSync (node:internal/fs/rimraf:251:7)
    at rimrafSync (node:internal/fs/rimraf:194:7)
    at rmSync (node:fs:1247:10)
    at deleteSync
2025-11-01T07:50:00.779Z [<app-name>] error:  [1] [2025-11-01T07:50:00.779Z]  [<project-name>]  [LoggerService]  [node:internal/fs/rimraf:252:34
    ]   [TypeError]  The "list[2]" argument must be an instance of Buffer or Uint8Array. Received type string ('<file-name-in-the-dir-to-be-deleted, example: "some-archive">.zip') [1761982862610] [GET] [/latest/agent/request-update]  "Failed to delete /<project-path>/data/updates/0.1.798, resolving to rimraf"
stack: TypeError [ERR_INVALID_ARG_TYPE]: The "list[2]" argument must be an instance of Buffer or Uint8Array. Received type string ('<file-name-in-the-dir-to-be-deleted, example: "some-archive">.zip')
    at Function.concat (node:buffer:602:13)
    at node:internal/fs/rimraf:252:34
    at Array.forEach (<anonymous>)
    at _rmdirSync (node:internal/fs/rimraf:251:7)
    at rimrafSync (node:internal/fs/rimraf:194:7)
    at Object.rmSync (node:fs:1247:10)
    at removeSync (/<project-path>/node_modules/fs-extra/lib/remove/index.js:11:6)
    at deleteSync
2025-11-01T07:50:00.780Z [<app-name>] error:  [1] [2025-11-01T07:50:00.780Z]  [<project-name>]  [LoggerService]  [node:internal/fs/rimraf:252:34
    ]   [TypeError]  The "list[2]" argument must be an instance of Buffer or Uint8Array. Received type string ('<file-name-in-the-dir-to-be-deleted, example: "some-archive">.zip') [1761982862610] [GET] [/latest/agent/request-update]  "Failed to delete /<project-path>/data/updates/0.1.798, resolving to shell"
stack: TypeError [ERR_INVALID_ARG_TYPE]: The "list[2]" argument must be an instance of Buffer or Uint8Array. Received type string ('<file-name-in-the-dir-to-be-deleted, example: "some-archive">.zip')
    at Function.concat (node:buffer:602:13)
    at node:internal/fs/rimraf:252:34
    at Array.forEach (<anonymous>)
    at _rmdirSync (node:internal/fs/rimraf:251:7)
    at rimrafSync (node:internal/fs/rimraf:194:7)
    at rmSync (node:fs:1247:10)
    at rimrafNativeSync (/<project-path>/node_modules/rimraf/dist/commonjs/rimraf-native.js:16:24)
    at /<project-path>/node_modules/rimraf/dist/commonjs/index.js:58:45
    at /<project-path>/node_modules/rimraf/dist/commonjs/index.js:42:18
    at deleteSync

This is currently my deleteSync workaround:

import { existsSync, unlinkSync } from 'node:fs';
import { platform } from 'node:os';
import { spawnSync } from 'node:child_process';
import { rmSync, removeSync, statSync } from 'fs-extra';
import { rimrafSync } from 'rimraf';

export function deleteSync(path: string, logger?: ILogger): void {
  if (existsSync(path)) {
    const pathStats = statSync(path);

    try {
      if (pathStats.isDirectory()) {
        rmSync(path, {
          force: true,
          recursive: true
        });
      } else {
        unlinkSync(path);
      }
    } catch (rmEx) {
      logger?.warn(`Failed to delete ${path}, resolving to removeSync due to ${(rmEx as Error).message}`);

      try {
        removeSync(path);
      } catch (removeEx) {
        logger?.warn(`Failed to delete ${path}, resolving to rimraf due to ${(removeEx as Error).message}`);

        try {
          rimrafSync(path);
        } catch (rimrafEx) {
          logger?.warn(`Failed to delete ${path}, resolving to shell due to ${(rimrafEx as Error).message}`);

          try {
            const isWindows = platform() === 'win32';
            const cmd = isWindows ? 'cmd' : 'rm';
            const args = isWindows
              ? [
                  '/c',
                  'if',
                  'exist',
                  `"${path}"`,
                  '(',
                  'rmdir',
                  '/s',
                  '/q',
                  `"${path}"`,
                  '||',
                  'del',
                  '/f',
                  '/q',
                  `"${path}"`,
                  ')'
                ]
              : ['-rf', path];

            const result = spawnSync(cmd, args, {
              shell: true,
              stdio: 'inherit'
            });

            if (result.error) {
              logger?.error(`[rmUniversal] Fallback deletion failed for ${path}:`, result.error);
            }
          } catch (ex) {
            logger?.error(`Failed to delete ${path}`, ex);
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

In the code above, all fails except unlinkSync and spawnSync

But I am facing another problem is that for example, if i do use above to delete dirctories, for some reason, the existsSync keeps returning true even if I put it in a loop with a 10 sec interval after deleting the directory and I can see it's saying that it's still existing but when I run ls in the shell, I can see that the folder is deleted.

[mcz-adhamsabry]

I think you are most likely using https://yarnpkg.com/api/yarnpkg-fslib/class/NodeFS, which is a yarn lib (@yarnpkg/fslib), not Node.js core API

Can you please clarify? @ChALkeR

Note: I tried imports from node:fs and fs-extra and no luck.

[mcz-adhamsabry]

Ok, there might be a bug with nexe package nexe/nexe#639

I am not able to reproduce this outside nexe.

Thanks @ChALkeR.

[mcz-adhamsabry]

node-js-fs-bug.zip

code above is the reproducer I tried to create and no luck! :( which made me isolate it to nexe.

to run it: yarn install then node ./reproduce.mjs

[mcz-adhamsabry]

What I am puzzled about is why I didn't notice this till v22.21.0+ (I am currently on 24.11.0)