borg extract failed "archive does not exist" after repository was renamed

TL;DR

Borg addresses archives as repository, archive name pairs, so after a repository rename or move, the archive list lives under the new location and old scripts pointing at the old path see an empty or missing repository: list the archives in the repository at its current location, confirm the archive name's exact spelling, and update the extract command's repository path. The archive exists; the address being used for it does not.

borg extract failed "archive does not exist" after repository was renamed

Use this when

• The job or restore fails with this symptom: borg extract failed with archive does not exist after the repository was renamed.
• You are working on a borg extract after the repository was renamed or relocated and the failure repeats on the same target or schedule.
• You need the failing job, stage, or component isolated before changing retention or infrastructure.

Not for this skill when

• An archive genuinely deleted by a prune under the old name, where the fix is restoring from a replica repository.
• The error text names a different product, stage, or root cause. Match the verbatim error first and use that skill.

Steps

1. List the repository at its current path and record the archives it actually contains. Verify: the real archive inventory is known
2. Compare the failing command's repository path and archive name against that inventory, including case and suffixes. Verify: the addressing difference is pinpointed
3. Update scripts and configs that embed the old repository path to the new location. Verify: all references use the current address
4. Run the extract again and confirm files restore from the named archive. Verify: the extract completes successfully

Variant phrasings

borg extract archive does not exist repository renamed

The verbatim phrasing.

borg archive not found after repo move update path fix

The path phrasing.

borg extract failed old repository location archive list

The inventory phrasing.

Compatibility: Borg backup repositories and archive addressing after renames

Why it happens

Renaming a repository changes every address pointing into it while changing none of its contents. Tools and scripts that memorised the old path report missing archives because, at the path they are querying, there is nothing, and the error is about the address, not the archive.

Edge cases / pitfalls

• Archive names with timestamps make near matches easy to confuse; list, then copy the name exactly.
• If the old path now hosts a new empty repository, borg may have initialised one there; check before assuming data loss.

Provenance

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_JOS9vfhDNi9i818RqXOFhQ