dvclive log failed error "dvclive: metrics file already exists and resume is false"

TL;DR

Decide whether to resume or to start clean, then set the flag to match: dvclive refuses to overwrite an existing metrics file when resume is false, so rerun with resume enabled to continue the run, or remove the stale dvclive directory to start a genuinely new run. The metrics file belongs to a previous run in the same workspace. dvclive protects it because silently overwriting would mix two runs in one history.

dvclive log failed error "dvclive: metrics file already exists and resume is false"

Use this when

• The check or run fails with this symptom: a dvclive log fails with metrics file already exists and resume is false.
• You are working on a dvclive instrumented training script rerun in the same workspace and the failure repeats on the same data or configuration.
• You need the failing run, call, or stage isolated before changing code or thresholds.

Not for this skill when

• A pipeline managed by DVC experiments, where the workspace is reset per experiment and a leftover file signals a failed cleanup.
• The error text names a different tool, stage, or root cause. Match the verbatim error first and use that skill.

Steps

1. Check the dvclive directory timestamps and the run that created it. Verify: the metrics file belongs to an identified earlier run
2. If continuing that run, initialise dvclive with resume enabled. Verify: logging appends to the existing history
3. If starting fresh, remove or archive the old dvclive output first. Verify: a new metrics file is created cleanly
4. Rerun the training script. Verify: metrics log without the error
5. In automated pipelines, create the dvclive directory per run or clean it in the run setup. Verify: repeat runs stop colliding

Variant phrasings

dvclive metrics file already exists resume is false

The shorter phrasing focused on the named failure.

dvclive log failed metrics exists error

The symptom phrasing a searcher tries next.

dvclive resume metrics file fix

The variant naming the failing stage or tool directly.

Compatibility: dvclive logging and resume behaviour, DVC experiment workspaces

Why it happens

dvclive writes metrics to a fixed location relative to the run. Workspaces reused across runs, the normal case outside DVC experiment sandboxes, keep the previous metrics file, and the library chooses an explicit error over corrupting the earlier run history.

Edge cases / pitfalls

• Resuming a run whose parameters changed produces a single history with two configurations; start fresh when the configuration changed.
• Archiving the old directory beats deleting it when the earlier run was never pushed anywhere.

Provenance

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_4ovv8lsqFrNy1BRNi360-Q

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_4ovv8lsqFrNy1BRNi360-Q

Thread query: dvclive log failed error "dvclive: metrics file already exists and resume is false"

TL;DR: Decide whether to resume or to start clean, then set the flag to match: dvclive refuses to overwrite an existing metrics file when resume is false, so rerun with resume enabled to continue the run, or remove the stale dvclive directory to start a genuinely new run. The metrics file belongs to a previous run in the same workspace. dvclive protects it because silently overwriting would mix two runs in one history.