Improve error message when `plugin add` fails because config directory doesn't exist (Issue #10754) #16999

taearls · 2025-11-08T21:16:10Z

This PR improves the user experience when running plugin add by automatically creating missing plugin config directories and providing clear, actionable error messages.

Changes

When running nushell from a terminal with a configuration file path to a location where no file exists:

Before

Running this command throws an unhelpful error:

XDG_CONFIG_HOME=/tmp/nu-test-config nu -c "plugin add nu_plugin_example"
# => × Not found
# =>   ╭─[source:1:1]
# => 1 │ plugin add nu_plugin_example
# =>   · ─────┬────
# =>   ·      ╰── Not found
# =>   ╰────
# =>  help: '/tmp/nu-test-config/nushell/plugin.msgpackz' does not exist

After

Running this command will succeed because the configuration file will be created automatically if it doesn't exist:

XDG_CONFIG_HOME=/tmp/nu-test-config nu -c "plugin add nu_plugin_example"
# no error thrown

Release Notes

Improved error messages when plugin config directory doesn't exist during plugin add. The command now automatically creates missing parent directories, aligning with behavior in other Nushell commands.

Tasks after submitting

Update the documentation

Fixes nushell#10754 When registering a plugin fails because the config directory doesn't exist or isn't writable, the error message was unhelpful: "Plugin failed to load: No such file or directory (os error 2)" This change: - Checks if the parent directory exists before creating the plugin registry file - Automatically creates the directory if it's missing (like other Nu commands) - Provides clear error messages using ErrorKind::DirectoryNotFound - Shows the actual directory path that's problematic with helpful context Now users see actionable errors that distinguish between: - Plugin binary file not found - Config directory doesn't exist or can't be created 🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code) Co-Authored-By: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>

Apply cargo fmt formatting to multi-line nested imports.

- Collapse nested if statements using let-chain syntax - Replace useless format!() with .to_string()

taearls · 2025-11-08T22:10:14Z

Hi! This is my first time contributing. I did my best to follow the contribution guidelines. Since this is such a small bug fix, I'm not sure if this change warrants updating documentation, but I left the task in the PR description for now. Let me know if you'd like me to update it!

WindSoilder

Hi, thank you for your contribution, the code looks good to me.
Can you add a test for the behavior? You can add it to tests/plugins/registry_file.rs.

…it doesn't exist when running plugin add

taearls · 2025-11-14T18:23:49Z

Hi, thank you for your contribution, the code looks good to me. Can you add a test for the behavior? You can add it to tests/plugins/registry_file.rs.

Done! Thanks for the feedback.

WindSoilder

Thanks!

WindSoilder · 2025-11-16T13:51:57Z

The CI failed, can you run cargo fmt first?

taearls · 2025-11-16T16:26:04Z

The CI failed, can you run cargo fmt first?

Done. Sorry about that!

cptpiepmatz

Thank you, I have some nitpicks. You don't have to do them if you don't want to or think they are good as they are.

cptpiepmatz · 2025-11-16T22:05:28Z

crates/nu-cmd-plugin/src/util.rs

    // Save the modified file on success
+    // First, ensure the parent directory exists
+    if let Some(parent_dir) = plugin_registry_file_path.parent()
+        && !parent_dir.exists()


This is a nitpick but you don't have to do this check, just run the fs::create_dir_all, it already checks if the necessary dirs exist.

cptpiepmatz · 2025-11-16T22:07:29Z

crates/nu-cmd-plugin/src/util.rs

+                file_span,
+                parent_dir.to_path_buf(),
+                "Cannot create plugin config directory. \
+                Ensure the parent path is accessible and you have write permissions"


I don't think you have to write this long context. If you don't have the permissions to create such a dir, you already get a permissions denied error, making this very obvious. Very long messages in our messages get somewhat messy. You don't have to remove that, just wanna say. You can take a look how it looks in your terminal.

cptpiepmatz · 2025-11-16T22:10:26Z

Can you add a before and after to the changelog. That would make it easier to see what you did when reading the changelog. You can do it similar to this: #16892

taearls · 2025-11-16T22:49:10Z

Thank you, I have some nitpicks. You don't have to do them if you don't want to or think they are good as they are.

Thanks for the feedback! I appreciate your suggestions. I don't want to add anything unnecessary, so I'm happy to clean that up.

I'll also work on adding a clear before / after change log.

taearls · 2025-11-18T15:55:54Z

@cptpiepmatz I applied changes in response to your feedback and updated the PR description with a before / after changelog. Please let me know if there's anything else you think could be improved!

cptpiepmatz · 2025-11-18T18:43:44Z

Thank you for your changes but this is not really what I asked for, sorry. The changelog is mainly for nushell users not developers. So I expected a terminal output, what you would see as a nushell user.

taearls · 2025-11-18T19:21:00Z

Thank you for your changes but this is not really what I asked for, sorry. The changelog is mainly for nushell users not developers. So I expected a terminal output, what you would see as a nushell user.

Oh got it. Sorry about that, I misunderstood. I'll update that.

taearls · 2025-11-18T21:03:35Z

updated the changelog!

I wasn't 100% sure about including the XDG_CONFIG_HOME=/tmp/nu-test-config aspect of the command because I'm not sure how often users are setting that environment variable when executing nushell from the command line. I decided to include it because it was the easiest way I could find to succinctly demonstrate the behavior before and after the changes.

let me know if you have any feedback @cptpiepmatz

cptpiepmatz

Thank you, I like that. Let's wait for the pipeline and then we can merge. ❤️

taearls and others added 3 commits November 8, 2025 15:09

style: fix import formatting in util.rs

bc2b31e

Apply cargo fmt formatting to multi-line nested imports.

fix: address clippy warnings in util.rs

913bff2

- Collapse nested if statements using let-chain syntax - Replace useless format!() with .to_string()

taearls changed the title ~~fix: improve error messages when plugin config directory doesn't exist~~ fix: improve error message when plugin add fails because config directory doesn't exist (issue #10754) Nov 8, 2025

taearls changed the title ~~fix: improve error message when plugin add fails because config directory doesn't exist (issue #10754)~~ Improve error message when plugin add fails because config directory doesn't exist (Issue #10754) Nov 8, 2025

taearls marked this pull request as ready for review November 8, 2025 22:08

WindSoilder requested changes Nov 10, 2025

View reviewed changes

add unit test to capture behavior where directory will be created if …

849a8a7

…it doesn't exist when running plugin add

taearls requested a review from WindSoilder November 14, 2025 18:23

WindSoilder approved these changes Nov 16, 2025

View reviewed changes

run cargo fmt

34f2a92

cptpiepmatz self-requested a review November 16, 2025 21:58

cptpiepmatz approved these changes Nov 16, 2025

View reviewed changes

code cleanup to address PR feedback

636d6ba

cptpiepmatz approved these changes Nov 18, 2025

View reviewed changes

cptpiepmatz merged commit c854944 into nushell:main Nov 18, 2025
16 checks passed

github-actions bot added this to the v0.109.0 milestone Nov 18, 2025

Improve error message when plugin add fails because config directory doesn't exist (Issue #10754) #16999

Improve error message when plugin add fails because config directory doesn't exist (Issue #10754) #16999

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Improve error message when `plugin add` fails because config directory doesn't exist (Issue #10754) #16999

Improve error message when `plugin add` fails because config directory doesn't exist (Issue #10754) #16999

taearls commented Nov 8, 2025 •

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taearls commented Nov 16, 2025 •

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