Definitive Solution for "Unable to Locate File in Vite Manifest" in Laravel

Recently, while working on a Laravel project, I encountered an issue that took quite some effort to resolve:

Despite verifying that resources/css/app.css was indeed present in the correct location, Laravel kept throwing this following error.

Unable to locate file in Vite manifest: resources/css/app.css

I implemented all the common solutions, but nothing worked—until I discovered an unexpected cause.

Common Solutions That Didn’t Work

Before I found the actual fix, I tried several typical solutions:

• Clearing and rebuilding Vite:
• Checking vite.config.js for correct input paths.
• Ensuring @vite(['resources/css/app.css']) was correctly placed in head.blade.php.
• Deleting node_modules and package-lock.json, then reinstalling dependencies:

None of these solved the issue.

The Unexpected Solution

The actual cause turned out to be a third-party package: lakm/laravel-comments. This package required an installation command that I hadn’t run:

php artisan commenter:install

Running this command resolved the issue instantly! The missing file resources/css/app.css wasn’t actually missing—it was expected to be inside the package directory but hadn’t been installed correctly. Specifically, vendor/lakm/laravel-comments/resources/css/app.css was missing, which caused Laravel to fail when trying to locate it in the Vite manifest.

Misleading Debugging Due to Similar File Names

One major reason this issue was so tricky to diagnose was that the error referenced resources/css/app.css, which also existed in my Laravel project’s main directory. Since both the main project and the laravel-comments package used the same file name, it was misleading. I kept checking the wrong location, assuming my main resources/css/app.css file was missing or incorrectly configured, when in reality, the missing file was inside the package’s vendor/ directory.

Lesson Learned

If you face this issue and none of the common solutions work, check if a package you installed requires an additional command to set up assets. Some packages may include styles, scripts, or other resources that Laravel and Vite expect to find but won’t be available until the package is fully installed.

Final Debugging Checklist

If you ever face this error again, try these steps:

• Run all Laravel and Vite commands:
• Check vite.config.js for correct paths.
• Verify if any installed package requires an additional setup command.
• Check inside vendor/ for missing package assets, especially stylesheets and scripts.
• Be mindful of similar file names across different locations; Laravel may be referencing a missing package file rather than your project’s file.
• Reinstall dependencies (npm install & composer install).

By considering package-specific installation steps and being cautious of misleading file paths, you can save yourself hours of debugging frustration!