Yarn executable was not detected in the system Ruby / Rails Origin: Application & API OSI layer 7 · Application Last updated 5 Nov 2026

Rails: Yarn executable was not detected in the system. Download Yarn at https://yarnpkg.com/en/docs/install

Rails asset tasks (assets:precompile, webpacker/jsbundling) need Node and Yarn but they're not installed/on PATH.

Exact message you may see Yarn executable was not detected in the system. Download Yarn at https://yarnpkg.com/en/docs/installYarn executable was not detected in the systemWebpacker requires Node.js >= 6.0.0 and you are usingWebpacker can't find application.js in /public/packs/manifest.jsonbin/webpack: command not found
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Seen on: Ruby Node.js

Meaning

Install Node.js and Yarn (corepack enable / npm i -g yarn), run yarn install, and in Docker/CI install Node in the build stage before precompiling. Rails 7 jsbundling-rails runs yarn build; match the Node version in .node-version.

Common causes

  • Node/Yarn missing in the image or server
  • PATH missing Node (nvm not loaded)
  • Webpacker/jsbundling needing yarn install
  • Different Node version than expected
  • Production precompile without devDependencies

⚡ Quick fix

  1. corepack enable && yarn install before rails assets:precompile
  2. Install Node in the Docker build stage
  3. Ensure PATH includes Node in CI/deploy scripts

Detailed fix by platform

Linux

  1. node -v && yarn -v && bin/rails assets:precompile

How to diagnose

  1. Node — Installed?
  2. Yarn — Available?
  3. Stage — Docker build?

🔧 Still not fixed?

Many errors look alike. If the steps above didn’t solve it, one of these is probably what you’re facing:

Where this error sits

Origin: Application & API. Errors that are often confused with or caused by this one (click to open):

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