Module Not Found

Your bot is trying to load a package or a file that doesn't exist on the server. This is the most common startup error, and it is usually fixed in under a minute.

What You See

Error: Cannot find module 'discord.js'
Require stack:
- /home/container/index.js
  code: 'MODULE_NOT_FOUND'

ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'discord'

Error: ENOENT: no such file or directory, open './config.json'
FileNotFoundError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'config.json'

Read the name between quotes: it tells you which case you are in.

Missing Package

The package is not listed in your dependency file, so KataBump never installed it.

Fix for Node.js

1. Open package.json and check that the package is listed under "dependencies"
2. If not, add it (on your computer, npm install <package> does it for you), then upload the updated package.json
3. Restart the server so dependencies are reinstalled

{
  "dependencies": {
    "discord.js": "^14.14.1",
    "dotenv": "^16.4.5"
  }
}

Fix for Python

1. Open requirements.txt and check that the package is listed
2. Make sure you use the package name, which is not always the name you import (see table below)
3. Restart the server

Entry File Not Found

KataBump can't find the file it is supposed to run. Two usual causes:

• The startup file name doesn't match. In the "Startup" tab, the JS FILE / PY FILE value must match your file exactly (e.g. bot.js and not index.js).
• Your files are inside a sub-folder. This often happens after unzipping: your project ends up in /home/container/my-bot/ instead of /home/container/. Open the "Files" tab and move everything up one level so that package.json or requirements.txt sits directly at the root.

/home/container            /home/container
└── my-bot/          ✗     ├── package.json   ✓
    ├── package.json       ├── index.js
    └── index.js           └── commands/

Wrong File Path

Uppercase and Lowercase Matter

Windows and macOS don't care about case, but KataBump servers run Linux, which does. A bot that works on your computer can fail on the server because of a single capital letter:

// File on disk: commands/ping.js
require('./commands/Ping');   // ✗ fails on Linux
require('./commands/ping');   // ✓

Relative Paths

Paths like ./config.json are resolved from the folder the bot is started from, not from the file that contains the line. Build paths from the current file's location instead:

const path = require('node:path');
const fs = require('node:fs');

const config = JSON.parse(
    fs.readFileSync(path.join(__dirname, 'config.json'), 'utf8')
);

from pathlib import Path
import json

BASE_DIR = Path(__file__).parent
config = json.loads((BASE_DIR / "config.json").read_text())

File Not Uploaded

Check in the "Files" tab that the file really exists on the server. Files starting with a dot (like .env) are sometimes skipped when creating a ZIP or hidden by your SFTP client.