# ASSET_INVALID

> an asset file that does not load, or whose definition croft cannot use

**Error** · category **project** (the project has a mistake in an asset file, croft.json or the command line) · exit **2** (invalid project or usage)

An asset file that does not load, or whose definition croft cannot use.

croft loads every file in assets/ before it runs anything. ASSET_INVALID means one of them cannot be used as
written. The message says which part, and file and line point at it. The common causes:
- the TypeScript does not compile, an import does not resolve, or top-level code threw or kept running (network
  calls and other slow work belong inside rows(), which runs only when the asset runs);
- the default export is not ingest({...}) or transform({...}) from @zabaca/croft;
- a key the definition does not have (with a did-you-mean), or a value of the wrong shape: key, write, columns
  (a pin must be a plain SQL type, or { type, format }), secrets, retries, timeout, checks, confirmAbove;
- an ingest with both rows() and file, or neither; write: "merge" without a key; write: "replace" with incremental;
- a file ingest whose files have no format croft can tell, or files of two formats in one asset;
- an SQL asset whose SELECT returns only columns croft keeps for itself (\_loaded_at);
- croft validate --types: a type error the project's own tsc reports.

Nothing ran for that asset; the other assets are not affected unless they read it.

What to do: run croft validate --json. Each problem has file, line and a fix (usually an edit); make it, then run
croft validate --json again until it is clean. The templates in [`croft docs ingest`](https://croft.zabaca.com/docs/guides/ingest.md), [`croft docs transforms`](https://croft.zabaca.com/docs/guides/transforms.md) and
[`croft docs sql`](https://croft.zabaca.com/docs/guides/sql.md) show every valid shape, and croft new <kind> <name> writes one.

The same page is in the CLI: `croft docs ASSET_INVALID`.

Source: https://croft.zabaca.com/docs/reference/errors/asset-invalid/