quarto-dev / quarto-dev/quarto-cli

Manuscript preview fails if notebook present

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Dominant language
JavaScript
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Description

I have:
  • searched the issue tracker for similar issues
  • installed the latest version of Quarto CLI
  • formatted my issue following the Bug Reports guide
Bug description

When using quarto preview to continuously render changes to a manuscript project that has an associated notebook, the rendering process will fail after the first few saved changes. The error is generally:

NotFound: The system cannot find the path specified. (os error 3): writefile 'C:\Users\username\dev\quarto-preview-bug\.quarto\quarto-session-temp9d4f27c9c392458f\18a86863643a2301.json'

where the quarto-session-temp* directory changes each time quarto preview is restarted.

Steps to reproduce

Using https://github.com/jkbest2/quarto-preview-bug

  1. Run quarto preview in the project root.
  2. Edit either index.qmd or lorem-ipsum-notebook.qmd, saving the results.
  3. Repeat 2 until the preview rendering fails with the above error. This will usually be around the third rendering.
Actual behavior

Preview fails after the first few edits are rendered, and fail on all subsequent edits.

Expected behavior

Preview should continue rendering all edits.

Your environment
  • IDE: Text editor (Helix)
  • OS: Windows 11
Quarto check output
Quarto 1.8.24
[>] Checking environment information...
      Quarto cache location: C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\quarto
[>] Checking versions of quarto binary dependencies...
      Pandoc version 3.6.3: OK
      Dart Sass version 1.87.0: OK
      Deno version 2.3.1: OK
      Typst version 0.13.0: OK
[>] Checking versions of quarto dependencies......OK
[>] Checking Quarto installation......OK
      Version: 1.8.24
      Path: C:\Users\username\scoop\apps\quarto\current\bin
      CodePage: 1252

[>] Checking tools....................OK
      TinyTeX: (not installed)
      Chromium: (not installed)

[>] Checking LaTeX....................OK
      Tex:  (not detected)

[>] Checking Chrome Headless....................OK
      Using: Chrome found on system
      Path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge\Application\msedge.exe
      Source: Windows Registry

[>] Checking basic markdown render....OK

[>] Checking Python 3 installation....(None)

      Unable to locate an installed version of Python 3.
      Install Python 3 from https://www.python.org/downloads/

[>] Checking R installation...........OK
      Version: 4.5.1
      Path: C:/Users/username/scoop/apps/r/current
      LibPaths:
        - C:/Users/username/scoop/persist/r/site-library
        - C:/Users/username/scoop/apps/r/4.5.1/library
      knitr: 1.50
      rmarkdown: 2.29

[>] Checking Knitr engine render......OK

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

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

Research direction

Start by reproducing the failure with quarto preview in the linked quarto-preview-bug project on Windows 11, editing index.qmd and lorem-ipsum-notebook.qmd repeatedly. Trace where the .quarto/quarto-session-temp* path and JSON file are written during notebook-backed preview renders. Done means repeated saved edits continue rendering without the NotFound error.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
javascript
Domain
cli, tooling
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
3/5
Estimated time
1-2 days
Activity status
Quiet
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
55/100

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