bug: dataform cli not found in path

[jeremieamstutz]

Describe the bug
The extension seems to struggle to run gcloud and dataform.

To Reproduce
When I try to compile, I get this error: dataform cli not found in path

Environment:

• macOS 15.4.1
• Dataform 3.0.20

[ashish10alex]

Hi @jeremieamstutz ,
Thanks for creating the issue. Seems to be similar to #137

I would suggest try following and report back to debug further

1. Make sure you have dataform , gcloud cli setup. If not follow these steps
2. If you have done (1) and still get the error dataform cli not found in path restart vscode and compile again and make sure you have able to do dataform compile from your terminal
3. Watch the setup YouTube video which goes through the setup process from scratch

[farridav]

Im also getting this issue on linux,

(** compilation error **): Error compiling Dataform: /bin/sh: 1: dataform: not found

though the dataform binary is available from within my standard shell (zsh) and plain old sh,

here are my logs:

[2025-07-15T13:48:04.452Z] INFO: Logging initialized
[2025-07-15T13:48:04.452Z] INFO: Activating Dataform Tools extension
[2025-07-15T13:48:04.452Z] DEBUG: Initialized global cache
[2025-07-15T13:48:04.529Z] DEBUG: Workspace: /path/to/project is a Dataform workspace
[2025-07-15T13:48:20.007Z] INFO: Dataform Tools extension activated successfully
[2025-07-15T13:51:58.010Z] DEBUG: Getting current file metadata for document: /path/to/project/definitions/serving/product/product_sku.sqlx
[2025-07-15T13:51:58.010Z] DEBUG: File name: product_sku, relative file path: definitions/serving/product/product_sku.sqlx, extension: sqlx
[2025-07-15T13:51:58.010Z] DEBUG: Workspace folder: /path/to/project
[2025-07-15T13:51:58.011Z] DEBUG: compilerOptions: 
[2025-07-15T13:51:58.011Z] DEBUG: customDataformCliPath: dataform
[2025-07-15T13:51:58.052Z] DEBUG: Workspace: /path/to/project is a Dataform workspace
[2025-07-15T13:52:31.691Z] DEBUG: Getting current file metadata for document: /path/to/project/definitions/serving/product/product_sku.sqlx
[2025-07-15T13:52:31.692Z] DEBUG: File name: product_sku, relative file path: definitions/serving/product/product_sku.sqlx, extension: sqlx
[2025-07-15T13:52:31.692Z] DEBUG: Workspace folder: /path/to/project
[2025-07-15T13:54:56.938Z] DEBUG: customDataformCliPath: dataform
[2025-07-15T13:54:56.971Z] DEBUG: Workspace: /path/to/project is a Dataform workspace

i see customDataformCliPath but thats not part of any of my settings, i can just choose global or local ..

any ideas on how i might resolve this issue ?

[ashish10alex]

Hi @farridav , thanks for providing additional details. Can you provide the output for

❯ which dataform
/Users/ashishalex/.nvm/versions/node/v22.13.0/bin/dataform

customDataformCliPath is set as follows

Dataform Cli Scope: Dataform installation scope to use. Default to global which uses the dataform cli installed in global scope when running dataform install -g @dataform/cli. Selecting local scope would mean dataform cli installation in your workspace folder in ./node_modules/.bin/dataform will be used. This is created when npm install @dataform/cli is ran from the root of the workspace folder.

---

This is how dataform cli is used to compile. According to Node Js docs for spawn function it should use the Uses '/bin/sh' on Unix. Output of which dataform from both shells might give a clue on how to further investigate this issue.

vscode-dataform-tools/src/utils.ts

Line 950 in e0025aa

spawnedProcess = spawn(customDataformCliPath, ["compile", '"' + workspaceFolder + '"', ...compilerOptions , "--json", "--json", `--timeout=${dataformCompilationTimeoutVal}`], { shell: true });

[farridav]

sure thing:

~/workspace/opensource/vscode-dataform-tools ±(main) ❯ which dataform
/home/XXX/.nvm/versions/node/v24.1.0/bin/dataform

[ashish10alex]

thanks @farridav .

1. Was which dataform on '/bin/sh' or zsh ?
2. Also, was the command being run from viscose's integrated terminal ?

I think the issue is, the shell vscode is using cannot see the dataform cli in its path. I have tried replicating the issue in the ubuntu environment I have. But have been unable to do so.

[farridav]

this is run from within the vscode integrated terminal, which is why I'm a little confused

[~/workspace/project]$ sh -c "which dataform"
/home/XXX/.nvm/versions/node/v24.1.0/bin/dataform
[~/workspace/project]$ zsh -c "which dataform"
/home/XXX/.nvm/versions/node/v24.1.0/bin/dataform
[~/workspace/project]$ echo $SHELL
/usr/bin/zsh
[~/workspace/project]$ 

Also heres my npm/nvm info:

[~/workspace/project]$ npm -v
11.3.0
[~/workspace/project]$ nvm current
v24.1.0
[~/workspace/project]$ node -v                
v24.1.0

[ashish10alex]

thanks @farridav , interesting. Can you please create a test.js file at the root of your dataform project and run it with node test.js

const { spawn } = require('child_process');

const compile = spawn('dataform', ['--version']);

compile.stdout.on('data', (data) => {
  console.log(`stdout: ${data}`);
});

compile.stderr.on('data', (data) => {
  console.error(`stderr: ${data}`);
});

compile.on('close', (code) => {
  console.log(`child process exited with code ${code}`);
});

Im expecting an output along the lines of

~/vscode-dataform-tools on  main $?                                                                                                                                                                         via  v3.11.11 (jlrenv) via  v22.13.0 is 󰏗 v0.14.0 1m18s
❯ node test.js
stdout: 3.0.25

child process exited with code 0

[farridav]

yeah thats what i get:

✗ sh -c "node test.js"
stdout: 3.0.25

child process exited with code 0
✗ zsh -c "node test.js"
stdout: 3.0.25

child process exited with code 0
✗ node test.js      
stdout: 3.0.25

child process exited with code 0

[ashish10alex]

Thanks @farridav for persistence with debugging. I found a very detailed post from vscode csharp extension on debugging similar issue of cli not being able to be found by vscode extension process. They suggest a few things that we could try

1. Close all vscode instances and start VS Code from your terminal where dataform is in PATH
2. Add a symlink for the dataform binary to a standard directory like /usr/local/bin as follows

ln -s "$(which dataform)" /usr/local/bin/dataform

restart vscode from terminal and see if it works

[farridav]

interesting, its working using both of these approaches, though im not entirely sure why !

1. launching my editor from the terminal works as expected, and is able to find dataform
2. adding symlinks to various binaries, allows me to launch my editor from the desktop entry, providing I do the following.

• sudo ln -s "$(which node)" /usr/local/bin/dataform
• sudo ln -s "$(which node)" /usr/local/bin/node
• sudo ln -s "$(which npm)" /usr/local/bin/npm

Other things that I neglected to mention about my system (sorry)

• I'm using cursor (not vscode, though it behaves more or less the same as its a fork)
• I'm using AppImage (as this is how cursor distribute their software)

Here is my cursor.desktop file for launching cursor:

[Desktop Entry]
Name=Cursor
Type=Application
Categories=Development;
MimeType=x-scheme-handler/cursor
Exec=/opt/cursor/AppRun --no-sandbox %F
Icon=/opt/cursor/co.anysphere.cursor.png
Terminal=false
StartupNotify=true

[ashish10alex]

Thanks @farridav ,

its working using both of these approaches, though im not entirely sure why !

1. The reasoning given for these approaches to work was that. When starting VS Code from your terminal where dataform is in PATH, VS Code will inherit your shell's environment.
2. VS Code extension when running a shell command runs it on shell that not necessarily has all the available items PATH of regular shell where you were running it. This might be due to some sourcing of bashrc or zshrc files that needs to be done but does not happen automatically.

I believe you might be able to make some modifications on how your cursor application is launched. Really appreciate the help with debugging it.

[farridav]

Thanks, I appreciate your time also, I imagine this thread will help others, as the way I have installed cursor as an App image is fairly standard

[benjaminwestern]

@ashish10alex please review this should fix this up: #172

[benjaminwestern]

@jeremieamstutz the fix should now be deployed in v.0.16.0 if you can review and let us know that would be great!