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When something goes wrong during setup or a test run, the error message usually tells you exactly what FinalRun expected and where to look. The sections below cover the most common errors, their causes, and the steps to resolve them. After fixing a configuration issue, run finalrun doctor to confirm your environment is ready before re-running your tests.

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Common errors

FinalRun finds your workspace by walking up from your current directory until it finds a folder that contains .finalrun/. If you run finalrun from outside your app repository — or before creating the workspace — it cannot locate the directory.Fix: Make sure your shell is inside the app repository where .finalrun/tests/ exists. You can confirm the structure is in place with:
ls .finalrun/tests/
If the directory is missing, follow the workspace setup guide to initialize your .finalrun/ folder before running any commands.
FinalRun reads your AI provider API key from the environment. The key it looks for depends on the provider prefix in your --model value or your .finalrun/config.yaml default.
Model prefixRequired environment variable
openai/...OPENAI_API_KEY
google/...GOOGLE_API_KEY
anthropic/...ANTHROPIC_API_KEY
Fix: Set the correct variable in your shell or in a .env file at your workspace root. For example, if you are using a Google model:
echo "GOOGLE_API_KEY=your-key-here" >> .env
FinalRun loads .env from the workspace root (the folder containing .finalrun/). You can also pass the key directly with the --api-key flag to override the environment for a single run.
Do not commit .env to version control. Add .env and .env.* to your .gitignore, keeping .env.example tracked as a template.
FinalRun requires a running Android Virtual Device (AVD) before it can connect and start a test. If no emulator is active when you run a test, FinalRun cannot proceed.Fix: Start an emulator before running your test. You can do this from the command line:
emulator -avd <your-avd-name>
Or launch one from the Device Manager in Android Studio. Once the emulator has fully booted, verify that FinalRun can detect it:
finalrun doctor --platform android
FinalRun depends on scrcpy for Android screen recording and adb (Android Debug Bridge) for device communication. If either tool is missing from your PATH, Android tests cannot run.Fix: Install both tools with Homebrew on macOS:
brew install scrcpy android-platform-tools
After installation, verify that FinalRun can find all required Android tools:
finalrun doctor
android-platform-tools provides adb. Make sure ANDROID_HOME or ANDROID_SDK_ROOT is set in your shell so FinalRun can locate the full Android SDK.
When a test spec references a value like ${secrets.email}, FinalRun looks it up in your environment binding file (.finalrun/env/<name>.yaml) and then resolves the underlying variable from your shell environment or .env file. If either piece is missing, the placeholder cannot be resolved.Fix: Check two things:
  1. The binding is declared in .finalrun/env/<name>.yaml using the ${ENV_VAR} placeholder syntax: 
    secrets:
  email: ${TEST_USER_EMAIL}
  password: ${TEST_USER_PASSWORD}
  2. The actual value is present in your shell environment or in the workspace-root .env (or .env.<name>) file: 
    echo "TEST_USER_EMAIL=user@example.com" >> .env
The environment name <name> must match the --env flag you pass (or the env value in .finalrun/config.yaml).
The --app flag expects a path to an existing binary that matches the target platform: an .apk file for Android or a .app directory for iOS. If the path does not exist or the file type does not match the --platform value, FinalRun rejects it.Fix: Verify the path exists and the file matches the platform you are targeting:
# Android
finalrun test smoke.yaml --platform android --app path/to/your.apk

# iOS
finalrun test smoke.yaml --platform ios --app path/to/YourApp.app
If you omit --app, FinalRun uses the app identity defined in .finalrun/config.yaml.
In earlier versions of FinalRun, running the CLI from within AI coding agent terminals (such as Claude Code or Cursor) could cause TTY-related errors because those environments do not always provide a standard terminal interface.This issue has been resolved. Upgrade to the latest version of FinalRun to pick up the fix:
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/final-run/finalrun-agent/main/scripts/install.sh | bash

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Verify host readiness with finalrun doctor

Before running tests, use finalrun doctor to check that all required tools and platform dependencies are installed and reachable. The command prints a tick/cross summary for each dependency. 
# Check both Android and iOS
finalrun doctor

# Check Android only
finalrun doctor --platform android

# Check iOS only
finalrun doctor --platform ios
Fix any items marked with a cross before running tests. For Android, the required tools are adb, emulator, and scrcpy. For iOS (macOS only), FinalRun requires Xcode command line tools with xcrun simctl.

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Getting more information

If an error is not covered above or you need more detail during a failing run, use the --debug flag to enable verbose logging: 
finalrun test smoke.yaml --platform android --debug
After a run completes, use finalrun start-server to open the visual report UI and inspect screenshots, video, and device logs for the failed run. If you are still stuck, join the FinalRun community on Slack — the team and other users are active there: Join the FinalRun Slack community