After fresh project clone, `npm run dev` errors with `Pagefind` error

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#69 opened on Jul 6, 2026 0 comments 1 reaction 0 assignees View on GitHub

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Dominant language: Edge
Stars: 21
Forks: 33
Avg merge: 1d 11h
Merged PRs (30d): 1

Description

Package version

0.0.0

Describe the bug

npm run dev errors out with following message:

npm run dev

> v7-new-docs@0.0.0 predev
> npm run dev:search:index


> v7-new-docs@0.0.0 dev:search:index
> pagefind --site build/public --output-path=public/pagefind


Running Pagefind v1.5.2 (Extended)
Running from: "/home/mcsneaky/Projects/AdonisJS/v7-docs"
Source:       "build/public"
Output:       "public/pagefind"

[Walking source directory]
Found 0 files matching **/*.{html}

[Parsing files]
Did not find a data-pagefind-body element on the site.
↳ Indexing all <body> elements on the site.

[Reading languages]
Discovered 0 languages: 

[Building search indexes]
Total: 
  Indexed 0 languages
  Indexed 0 pages
  Indexed 0 words
  Indexed 0 filters
  Indexed 0 sorts
Error: Pagefind was not able to build an index. 
Most likely, the directory passed to Pagefind was empty or did not contain any html files.
Error: Pagefind was not able to build an index. 
Most likely, the directory passed to Pagefind was empty or did not contain any html files.

How to reproduce:

git clone
npm install
cp .env.example .env
node ace generate:key
npm run dev

Running node ace serve --hmr directly works tho, seems like issue comes from predev npm run dev:search:index

Reproduction repo

No response

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by inspecting the package scripts behind predev and dev:search:index, then run the documented clone and setup steps to confirm that build/public is empty when Pagefind runs. Trace how node ace serve --hmr produces the site and ensure npm run dev waits for or performs that build before indexing. Done means the documented npm run dev starts without the Pagefind error and search indexing succeeds.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack: node.js
Domain: search, tooling
Issue type: Bug
Difficulty: 3/5
Estimated time: 1-2 days
Activity status: Quiet
Clarity: Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness: 64/100