Vercel "The provided path does not exist" in CI

By Kaveh Alemi·Latchkey

You passed a path argument to the Vercel CLI and it does not resolve to a real directory on the runner. The build output or project directory may not have been created yet, or the path is relative to the wrong working directory.

What this error means

A vercel deploy <path> step stops with "Error: The provided path \"...\" does not exist." before any upload happens.

Error: The provided path "/home/runner/work/app/app/dist" does not exist.

Common causes

The deploy runs before the build produces output

The directory you point the CLI at is only created by a build step that has not run yet, so the path is missing.

The path is relative to the wrong directory

A monorepo or custom checkout changes the working directory, so a relative path resolves somewhere the output does not exist.

How to fix it

Build before deploying and point at real output

1. Run the build step so the output directory exists.
2. Pass the correct path (absolute or relative to the job working directory).
3. Verify the directory with ls in the step before deploying.

- run: npm run build
- run: vercel deploy ./dist --prebuilt --token=${{ secrets.VERCEL_TOKEN }}

Set the working directory explicitly

In a monorepo, set working-directory so relative paths resolve from the package root.

- run: vercel deploy
  working-directory: apps/web

How to prevent it

• Build the output directory before the deploy step.
• Prefer absolute paths or set working-directory in monorepos.
• List the directory in CI to confirm it exists before deploying.

Frequently asked questions

Related guides

References

• Terraform documentation
• GitHub Actions documentation