Bad icon file path in manifest leads to cryptic installation error

Vega Open Beta Bug Reports
1

If you get the icon path wrong for some reason in manifest.toml, the vpk will fail to install with a generic “invalid package” error.

This took us 30+ minutes to figure out. A better behavior would to validate the manifest.toml at build time.

(We had misunderstood that assets/image needs to be in the project’s top directory, not src).

Steps to reproduce:

  1. Set icon to @image/something-bogus.png
  2. Build the project. Result: vpkg file is generated.
  3. Install the vpkg to the device.

Expected result:

  • Build, or install/update, fails with a very specific error, e.g. “icon @image/something-bogus.png not found”

Actual result:

  • Cryptic error in logs

Example error:

2025-12-17 15:22:12.406 [warning] Failed: Installing/Updating '/tmp/app_armv7.vpkg' ...error (Package is invalid)
Upload VPKG to appstore: "failed to upload" error leads to dead link
Build tools: Validate app manifest without VSCode
3

Hi @mikey,

Thank you for the detailed bug report on the icon file path issue.

Our team is investigating this issue and will provide an update as soon as we have more information. In the meantime, here are some helpful resources for validating your app manifest and understanding the manifest structure:

These resources should help you catch similar issues during development and provide guidance on proper manifest configuration, including asset paths.

Thanks for helping us improve the Vega platform.

Warm regards,
Aishwarya