Laravel Mix “Unable to Locate Mix File” Error: Causes and Fixes

If you’re working with Laravel and using Laravel Mix to manage your CSS and JavaScript assets, you may have come across an error like this:

Spatie\LaravelIgnition\Exceptions\ViewException  
Message: Unable to locate Mix file: /assets/vendor/css/rtl/core.css

Or in some cases:

Illuminate\Foundation\MixFileNotFoundException
Unable to locate Mix file: /assets/vendor/fonts/boxicons.css

This error can be frustrating, especially when your project works perfectly on one machine but fails on another. Let’s break down what’s happening and how to solve it.

What Causes This Error?

Laravel Mix is a wrapper around Webpack , designed to compile your resources/ assets (CSS, JS, images) into the public/ directory. The mix() helper in Blade templates references these compiled assets using a special file: mix-manifest.json .

This error occurs when Laravel cannot find the compiled asset . Common reasons include:

1. Assets are not compiled yet
   If you’ve just cloned a project, the public/assets folder might be empty. Laravel is looking for files that do not exist yet.
2. mix-manifest.json is missing or outdated
   This file maps original asset paths to compiled paths. If it’s missing, Laravel Mix won’t know where to find your assets.
3. Incorrect paths in Blade templates
   If your code is like: <link rel="stylesheet" href="{{ asset(mix('assets/vendor/css/rtl/core.css')) }}" /> but the RTL folder or the file doesn’t exist, Mix will throw an exception.
4. Wrong configuration
   Some themes use variables like $configData['rtlSupport'] to toggle right-to-left CSS. If it’s set incorrectly, Laravel will try to load files that don’t exist.

How to Fix It

Here’s a step-by-step solution:

1. Install NPM dependencies

Make sure you have Node.js installed, then run:

npm install

2. Compile your assets

• Development mode (fast, unminified):

npm run dev

• Production mode (optimized, minified):

npm run build

This will generate your CSS and JS files in the public folder and update mix-manifest.json .

3. Check mix-manifest.json

Ensure the manifest contains the file Laravel is looking for:

"/assets/vendor/css/rtl/core.css": "/assets/vendor/css/rtl/core.css"

4. Adjust Blade template paths

If you don’t use RTL, you can set:

$configData['rtlSupport'] = '';

so the code doesn’t try to load /rtl/core.css unnecessarily.

5. Clear caches

Laravel may cache old views and configs. Clear them:

php artisan view:clear
php artisan config:clear
php artisan cache:clear

Pro Tips

• Always check if the file exists in public/assets/... after compiling.
• If you move your project to another machine or server, you must run npm install and npm run dev again.
• For production, make sure your server has Node.js and NPM installed , otherwise Laravel Mix cannot build the assets.

Conclusion

The “Unable to locate Mix file” error is not a bug in Laravel , but a result of missing compiled assets or misconfigured paths. Once you:

1. Install dependencies.
2. Compile assets,
3. Correct Blade paths, and
4. Clear caches; your Laravel project should load CSS and JS files without issues.