error: Could not locate the bindings file. Tried:

[byron8225-cloud]

how to fix it?
ERROR 26016 nodejs.unhandledExceptionError: [ee-core] load file: D:\whuwater\project\model-new-frontend\public\electron\controller\sceneController.js, error: Could not locate the bindings file. Tried:
鈫?D:\whuwater\project\model-new-frontend\node_modules.pnpm\better-sqlite3@11.10.0\node_modules\better-sqlite3\build\better_sqlite3.node

[Prinzhorn]

Please provide full steps to reproduce the error. And also upgrade to the latest version (12.5.0).

[rastuhacode]

@Prinzhorn
I have stumbled on this error by creating Nuxt template app with @nuxt/content library.

Steps to reproduce:

1. Create template with pnpm create nuxt@latest sqlite-bug
2. Put options like in a screenshot (most important is to select content template)

3. Cd to folder and run pnpm run dev
4. The Nuxt will ask to install better-sqlite3 package. Press yes
5. Run pnpm run dev again. The following error will appear:

 ERROR  Could not locate the bindings file. Tried:                                                                    7:35:45 PM
 → /Users/rastuharem/Documents/life/coding/repos/sqlite-bug/node_modules/.pnpm/better-sqlite3@12.5.0/node_modules/better-sqlite3/build/better_sqlite3.node
 → /Users/rastuharem/Documents/life/coding/repos/sqlite-bug/node_modules/.pnpm/better-sqlite3@12.5.0/node_modules/better-sqlite3/build/Debug/better_sqlite3.node
 → /Users/rastuharem/Documents/life/coding/repos/sqlite-bug/node_modules/.pnpm/better-sqlite3@12.5.0/node_modules/better-sqlite3/build/Release/better_sqlite3.node
 → /Users/rastuharem/Documents/life/coding/repos/sqlite-bug/node_modules/.pnpm/better-sqlite3@12.5.0/node_modules/better-sqlite3/out/Debug/better_sqlite3.node
 → /Users/rastuharem/Documents/life/coding/repos/sqlite-bug/node_modules/.pnpm/better-sqlite3@12.5.0/node_modules/better-sqlite3/Debug/better_sqlite3.node
 → /Users/rastuharem/Documents/life/coding/repos/sqlite-bug/node_modules/.pnpm/better-sqlite3@12.5.0/node_modules/better-sqlite3/out/Release/better_sqlite3.node
 → /Users/rastuharem/Documents/life/coding/repos/sqlite-bug/node_modules/.pnpm/better-sqlite3@12.5.0/node_modules/better-sqlite3/Release/better_sqlite3.node
 → /Users/rastuharem/Documents/life/coding/repos/sqlite-bug/node_modules/.pnpm/better-sqlite3@12.5.0/node_modules/better-sqlite3/build/default/better_sqlite3.node
 → /Users/rastuharem/Documents/life/coding/repos/sqlite-bug/node_modules/.pnpm/better-sqlite3@12.5.0/node_modules/better-sqlite3/compiled/22.17.0/darwin/arm64/better_sqlite3.node
 → /Users/rastuharem/Documents/life/coding/repos/sqlite-bug/node_modules/.pnpm/better-sqlite3@12.5.0/node_modules/better-sqlite3/addon-build/release/install-root/better_sqlite3.node
 → /Users/rastuharem/Documents/life/coding/repos/sqlite-bug/node_modules/.pnpm/better-sqlite3@12.5.0/node_modules/better-sqlite3/addon-build/debug/install-root/better_sqlite3.node
 → /Users/rastuharem/Documents/life/coding/repos/sqlite-bug/node_modules/.pnpm/better-sqlite3@12.5.0/node_modules/better-sqlite3/addon-build/default/install-root/better_sqlite3.node
 → /Users/rastuharem/Documents/life/coding/repos/sqlite-bug/node_modules/.pnpm/better-sqlite3@12.5.0/node_modules/better-sqlite3/lib/binding/node-v127-darwin-arm64/better_sqlite3.node

    at bindings (node_modules/.pnpm/bindings@1.5.0/node_modules/bindings/bindings.js:126:9)
    at new Database (node_modules/.pnpm/better-sqlite3@12.5.0/node_modules/better-sqlite3/lib/database.js:48:64)
    at getDB (node_modules/.pnpm/db0@0.3.4/node_modules/db0/dist/connectors/better-sqlite3.mjs:17:9)
    at Object.exec (node_modules/.pnpm/db0@0.3.4/node_modules/db0/dist/connectors/better-sqlite3.mjs:24:18)
    at getLocalDatabase (node_modules/.pnpm/@nuxt+content@3.10.0_magicast@0.5.1/node_modules/@nuxt/content/dist/module.mjs:342:16)
    at async processCollectionItems (node_modules/.pnpm/@nuxt+content@3.10.0_magicast@0.5.1/node_modules/@nuxt/content/dist/module.mjs:3149:14)
    at async node_modules/.pnpm/@nuxt+content@3.10.0_magicast@0.5.1/node_modules/@nuxt/content/dist/module.mjs:3123:20
    at async initNuxt (node_modules/.pnpm/nuxt@4.2.2_@parcel+watcher@2.5.1_@vue+compiler-sfc@3.5.26_cac@6.7.14_db0@0.3.4_ioredis@_ff6dfc4fa02560e68215f68f71f14bd7/node_modules/nuxt/dist/index.mjs:5390:3)
    at async #initializeNuxt (node_modules/.pnpm/@nuxt+cli@3.32.0_cac@6.7.14_magicast@0.5.1/node_modules/@nuxt/cli/dist/dev-KB30iboK.mjs:492:3)
    at async NuxtDevServer.init (node_modules/.pnpm/@nuxt+cli@3.32.0_cac@6.7.14_magicast@0.5.1/node_modules/@nuxt/cli/dist/dev-KB30iboK.mjs:384:3)
    at async initialize (node_modules/.pnpm/@nuxt+cli@3.32.0_cac@6.7.14_magicast@0.5.1/node_modules/@nuxt/cli/dist/dev-KB30iboK.mjs:685:2)
    at async Object.run (node_modules/.pnpm/@nuxt+cli@3.32.0_cac@6.7.14_magicast@0.5.1/node_modules/@nuxt/cli/dist/dev-CsAvgRwH.mjs:205:51)
    at async runCommand (node_modules/.pnpm/citty@0.1.6/node_modules/citty/dist/index.mjs:316:16)
    at async runCommand (node_modules/.pnpm/citty@0.1.6/node_modules/citty/dist/index.mjs:307:11)
    at async runMain (node_modules/.pnpm/citty@0.1.6/node_modules/citty/dist/index.mjs:445:7) 



 ERROR  Could not locate the bindings file. Tried:                                                                    7:35:45 PM
 → /Users/rastuharem/Documents/life/coding/repos/sqlite-bug/node_modules/.pnpm/better-sqlite3@12.5.0/node_modules/better-sqlite3/build/better_sqlite3.node
 → /Users/rastuharem/Documents/life/coding/repos/sqlite-bug/node_modules/.pnpm/better-sqlite3@12.5.0/node_modules/better-sqlite3/build/Debug/better_sqlite3.node
 → /Users/rastuharem/Documents/life/coding/repos/sqlite-bug/node_modules/.pnpm/better-sqlite3@12.5.0/node_modules/better-sqlite3/build/Release/better_sqlite3.node
 → /Users/rastuharem/Documents/life/coding/repos/sqlite-bug/node_modules/.pnpm/better-sqlite3@12.5.0/node_modules/better-sqlite3/out/Debug/better_sqlite3.node
 → /Users/rastuharem/Documents/life/coding/repos/sqlite-bug/node_modules/.pnpm/better-sqlite3@12.5.0/node_modules/better-sqlite3/Debug/better_sqlite3.node
 → /Users/rastuharem/Documents/life/coding/repos/sqlite-bug/node_modules/.pnpm/better-sqlite3@12.5.0/node_modules/better-sqlite3/out/Release/better_sqlite3.node
 → /Users/rastuharem/Documents/life/coding/repos/sqlite-bug/node_modules/.pnpm/better-sqlite3@12.5.0/node_modules/better-sqlite3/Release/better_sqlite3.node
 → /Users/rastuharem/Documents/life/coding/repos/sqlite-bug/node_modules/.pnpm/better-sqlite3@12.5.0/node_modules/better-sqlite3/build/default/better_sqlite3.node
 → /Users/rastuharem/Documents/life/coding/repos/sqlite-bug/node_modules/.pnpm/better-sqlite3@12.5.0/node_modules/better-sqlite3/compiled/22.17.0/darwin/arm64/better_sqlite3.node
 → /Users/rastuharem/Documents/life/coding/repos/sqlite-bug/node_modules/.pnpm/better-sqlite3@12.5.0/node_modules/better-sqlite3/addon-build/release/install-root/better_sqlite3.node
 → /Users/rastuharem/Documents/life/coding/repos/sqlite-bug/node_modules/.pnpm/better-sqlite3@12.5.0/node_modules/better-sqlite3/addon-build/debug/install-root/better_sqlite3.node
 → /Users/rastuharem/Documents/life/coding/repos/sqlite-bug/node_modules/.pnpm/better-sqlite3@12.5.0/node_modules/better-sqlite3/addon-build/default/install-root/better_sqlite3.node
 → /Users/rastuharem/Documents/life/coding/repos/sqlite-bug/node_modules/.pnpm/better-sqlite3@12.5.0/node_modules/better-sqlite3/lib/binding/node-v127-darwin-arm64/better_sqlite3.node

 ELIFECYCLE  Command failed with exit code 1.

My environment:
Node: 22.17.0
Pnpm: 10.25.0
OS: macOS Sequoia 15.7.3 (24G419)

P.S.
I managed to fix this error by approving build from better-sqlite3 by pnpm approve-builds command
If it's the expected behavior i think there should be some note about this in installation guide

[neoxpert]

Well, it is somehow expected, if pnpm is used as package manager. There have been other issues before, due to how pnpm handles dependencies and / or native modules and their respective scripts, like in #1389.

Might be worth adding a note about package managers beside npm may require further actions and setup, like it is already mentioned for Electron in the trouble shooting guide.

[samsadtler]

I'm getting a very similar error using npm (or bun for that matter).

better-sqlite3: v12.6.2

node benchmark
Generating tables...
/Users/Sam/Development/better-sqlite3/node_modules/bindings/bindings.js:135
  throw err;
  ^

Error: Could not locate the bindings file. Tried:
 → /Users/Sam/Development/better-sqlite3/build/better_sqlite3.node
 → /Users/Sam/Development/better-sqlite3/build/Debug/better_sqlite3.node
 → /Users/Sam/Development/better-sqlite3/build/Release/better_sqlite3.node
 → /Users/Sam/Development/better-sqlite3/out/Debug/better_sqlite3.node
 → /Users/Sam/Development/better-sqlite3/Debug/better_sqlite3.node
 → /Users/Sam/Development/better-sqlite3/out/Release/better_sqlite3.node
 → /Users/Sam/Development/better-sqlite3/Release/better_sqlite3.node
 → /Users/Sam/Development/better-sqlite3/build/default/better_sqlite3.node
 → /Users/Sam/Development/better-sqlite3/compiled/25.4.0/darwin/arm64/better_sqlite3.node
 → /Users/Sam/Development/better-sqlite3/addon-build/release/install-root/better_sqlite3.node
 → /Users/Sam/Development/better-sqlite3/addon-build/debug/install-root/better_sqlite3.node
 → /Users/Sam/Development/better-sqlite3/addon-build/default/install-root/better_sqlite3.node
 → /Users/Sam/Development/better-sqlite3/lib/binding/node-v141-darwin-arm64/better_sqlite3.node
    at bindings (/Users/Sam/Development/better-sqlite3/node_modules/bindings/bindings.js:126:9)
    at new Database (/Users/Sam/Development/better-sqlite3/lib/database.js:48:64)
    at Database (/Users/Sam/Development/better-sqlite3/lib/database.js:11:10)
    at module.exports (/Users/Sam/Development/better-sqlite3/benchmark/seed.js:34:28)
    at Object.<anonymous> (/Users/Sam/Development/better-sqlite3/benchmark/index.js:59:33)
    at Module._compile (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1803:14)
    at Object..js (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1934:10)
    at Module.load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1524:32)
    at Module._load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1326:12)
    at TracingChannel.traceSync (node:diagnostics_channel:328:14) {
  tries: [
    '/Users/Sam/Development/better-sqlite3/build/better_sqlite3.node',
    '/Users/Sam/Development/better-sqlite3/build/Debug/better_sqlite3.node',
    '/Users/Sam/Development/better-sqlite3/build/Release/better_sqlite3.node',
    '/Users/Sam/Development/better-sqlite3/out/Debug/better_sqlite3.node',
    '/Users/Sam/Development/better-sqlite3/Debug/better_sqlite3.node',
    '/Users/Sam/Development/better-sqlite3/out/Release/better_sqlite3.node',
    '/Users/Sam/Development/better-sqlite3/Release/better_sqlite3.node',
    '/Users/Sam/Development/better-sqlite3/build/default/better_sqlite3.node',
    '/Users/Sam/Development/better-sqlite3/compiled/25.4.0/darwin/arm64/better_sqlite3.node',
    '/Users/Sam/Development/better-sqlite3/addon-build/release/install-root/better_sqlite3.node',
    '/Users/Sam/Development/better-sqlite3/addon-build/debug/install-root/better_sqlite3.node',
    '/Users/Sam/Development/better-sqlite3/addon-build/default/install-root/better_sqlite3.node',
    '/Users/Sam/Development/better-sqlite3/lib/binding/node-v141-darwin-arm64/better_sqlite3.node'
  ]
}

Node.js v25.4.0

[mceachen]

I'm getting a very similar error using npm (or bun for that matter)

You might want to include what version of better-sqlite3 you're trying to use. I can infer your on macOS from your path. Anything to help a contributor to repro your issue makes it more likely you will get help.

[samsadtler]

I have added the version number, but I will say I have experienced this with v11.10.0 as well

[neoxpert]

I'm currently in front of a Mac with NodeJS 25 and cannot reproduce this error. Not when installing better-sqlite3 as dependency in a fresh project, nor when cloning this repo and rebuilding it locally.

What exactly where the steps you performed? Dou you have a minimal reproducible example at hand?

[samsadtler]

With this repo making sure there is no build folder I run:

1. git clone https://github.com/WiseLibs/better-sqlite3.git
2. cd better-sqlite3
3. npm install
4. node benchmark

Interestingly when I run npm run build-debug and then node benchmark I get the same type of error with sqlite3, with the original error going away.

--- inserting 100 rows in a single transaction ---
better-sqlite3 x 15,180 ops/sec ±1.04%
node-sqlite3   ERROR (probably out of memory)
/Users/Sam/Development/better-sqlite3/benchmark/benchmark.js:20
        process.on('unhandledRejection', (err) => { throw err; });
                                                    ^

Error: Could not locate the bindings file. Tried:
 → /Users/Sam/Development/better-sqlite3/node_modules/sqlite3/build/node_sqlite3.node
 → /Users/Sam/Development/better-sqlite3/node_modules/sqlite3/build/Debug/node_sqlite3.node
 → /Users/Sam/Development/better-sqlite3/node_modules/sqlite3/build/Release/node_sqlite3.node
 → /Users/Sam/Development/better-sqlite3/node_modules/sqlite3/out/Debug/node_sqlite3.node
 → /Users/Sam/Development/better-sqlite3/node_modules/sqlite3/Debug/node_sqlite3.node
 → /Users/Sam/Development/better-sqlite3/node_modules/sqlite3/out/Release/node_sqlite3.node
 → /Users/Sam/Development/better-sqlite3/node_modules/sqlite3/Release/node_sqlite3.node
 → /Users/Sam/Development/better-sqlite3/node_modules/sqlite3/build/default/node_sqlite3.node
 → /Users/Sam/Development/better-sqlite3/node_modules/sqlite3/compiled/25.4.0/darwin/arm64/node_sqlite3.node
 → /Users/Sam/Development/better-sqlite3/node_modules/sqlite3/addon-build/release/install-root/node_sqlite3.node
 → /Users/Sam/Development/better-sqlite3/node_modules/sqlite3/addon-build/debug/install-root/node_sqlite3.node
 → /Users/Sam/Development/better-sqlite3/node_modules/sqlite3/addon-build/default/install-root/node_sqlite3.node
 → /Users/Sam/Development/better-sqlite3/node_modules/sqlite3/lib/binding/node-v141-darwin-arm64/node_sqlite3.node
    at bindings (/Users/Sam/Development/better-sqlite3/node_modules/bindings/bindings.js:126:9)
    at Object.<anonymous> (/Users/Sam/Development/better-sqlite3/node_modules/sqlite3/lib/sqlite3-binding.js:1:37)
    at Module._compile (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1803:14)
    at Object..js (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1934:10)
    at Module.load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1524:32)
    at Module._load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1326:12)
    at TracingChannel.traceSync (node:diagnostics_channel:328:14)
    at wrapModuleLoad (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:245:24)
    at Module.require (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1547:12)
    at require (node:internal/modules/helpers:152:16) {
  tries: [
    '/Users/Sam/Development/better-sqlite3/node_modules/sqlite3/build/node_sqlite3.node',
    '/Users/Sam/Development/better-sqlite3/node_modules/sqlite3/build/Debug/node_sqlite3.node',
    '/Users/Sam/Development/better-sqlite3/node_modules/sqlite3/build/Release/node_sqlite3.node',
    '/Users/Sam/Development/better-sqlite3/node_modules/sqlite3/out/Debug/node_sqlite3.node',
    '/Users/Sam/Development/better-sqlite3/node_modules/sqlite3/Debug/node_sqlite3.node',
    '/Users/Sam/Development/better-sqlite3/node_modules/sqlite3/out/Release/node_sqlite3.node',
    '/Users/Sam/Development/better-sqlite3/node_modules/sqlite3/Release/node_sqlite3.node',
    '/Users/Sam/Development/better-sqlite3/node_modules/sqlite3/build/default/node_sqlite3.node',
    '/Users/Sam/Development/better-sqlite3/node_modules/sqlite3/compiled/25.4.0/darwin/arm64/node_sqlite3.node',
    '/Users/Sam/Development/better-sqlite3/node_modules/sqlite3/addon-build/release/install-root/node_sqlite3.node',
    '/Users/Sam/Development/better-sqlite3/node_modules/sqlite3/addon-build/debug/install-root/node_sqlite3.node',
    '/Users/Sam/Development/better-sqlite3/node_modules/sqlite3/addon-build/default/install-root/node_sqlite3.node',
    '/Users/Sam/Development/better-sqlite3/node_modules/sqlite3/lib/binding/node-v141-darwin-arm64/node_sqlite3.node'
  ]
}

Node.js v25.4.0
node:sqlite    x 10,409 ops/sec ±0.88%

[samsadtler]

Looks like its a sqlite3 module issue relating to later versions of python 3.11+. If I use Python version less than 3.12 in this case 3.10.17 I'm able to run successfully run node benchmarks

1. git clone https://github.com/WiseLibs/better-sqlite3.git
2. cd better-sqlite3
3. npm install
4. cd node_modules/sqlite3
5. npm install
6. npm run prebuild
7. npm run rebuild
8. cd ../..
9. node benchmark

[samsadtler]

I would suggest bumping the version of sqlite3 but it looks to be deprecated

[neoxpert]

Well using some newer Python version than my current default 3.9.6 also gives me the error.

The sqlite3 project has been marked as unmaintained in December 2025 with TryGhost/node-sqlite3@a85f9e8.