feat: improve error and feedback when target does not exist

crates/pixi_consts/src/consts.rs

@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ pub const PREFIX_FILE_NAME: &str = "pixi_env_prefix";
 pub const ENVIRONMENTS_DIR: &str = "envs";
 pub const SOLVE_GROUP_ENVIRONMENTS_DIR: &str = "solve-group-envs";
 pub const PYPI_DEPENDENCIES: &str = "pypi-dependencies";
+pub const DEPENDENCIES: &str = "dependencies";
 pub const TASK_CACHE_DIR: &str = "task-cache-v0";
 pub const PIXI_UV_INSTALLER: &str = "uv-pixi";
 pub const CONDA_PACKAGE_CACHE_DIR: &str = rattler_cache::PACKAGE_CACHE_DIR;

crates/pixi_manifest/src/manifest.rs

@@ -420,7 +420,13 @@ impl Manifest {
             // Remove the dependency from the manifest
             match self
                 .target_mut(platform, feature_name)
-                .ok_or_else(|| Self::handle_target_missing(platform.as_ref(), feature_name))?
+                .ok_or_else(|| {
+                    Self::handle_target_missing(
+                        platform.as_ref(),
+                        feature_name,
+                        consts::DEPENDENCIES,
+                    )
+                })?
                 .remove_dependency(dep, spec_type)
             {
                 Ok(_) => (),
@@ -447,7 +453,13 @@ impl Manifest {
             // Remove the dependency from the manifest
             match self
                 .target_mut(platform, feature_name)
-                .ok_or_else(|| Self::handle_target_missing(platform.as_ref(), feature_name))?
+                .ok_or_else(|| {
+                    Self::handle_target_missing(
+                        platform.as_ref(),
+                        feature_name,
+                        consts::PYPI_DEPENDENCIES,
+                    )
+                })?
                 .remove_pypi_dependency(dep)
             {
                 Ok(_) => (),
@@ -463,22 +475,35 @@ impl Manifest {
         Ok(())
     }
 
+    /// Handles the target missing error cases
     fn handle_target_missing(
         platform: Option<&Platform>,
         feature_name: &FeatureName,
+        section: &str,
     ) -> miette::Report {
-        match platform {
-            None => {
-                miette!("No target for feature `{}`", feature_name)
-            }
-            Some(platform) => {
-                miette!(
-                    "No target for feature `{}` on platform `{}`",
-                    feature_name,
-                    platform
-                )
-            }
-        }
+        let platform = platform.copied().unwrap_or_else(Platform::current);
+
+        let help = if feature_name.is_default() {
+            format!(
+                r#"Expected target for `{name}`, e.g.: `[target.{platform}.{section}]`"#,
+                name = feature_name,
+                platform = platform,
+                section = section
+            )
+        } else {
+            format!(
+                r#"Expected target for `{name}`, e.g.: `[feature.{name}.target.{platform}.{section}]`"#,
+                name = feature_name,
+                platform = platform,
+                section = section
+            )
+        };
+        miette!(
+            help = &help,
+            "No target for feature `{name}` found on platform `{platform}`",
+            name = feature_name,
+            platform = platform
+        )
     }
 
     /// Returns true if any of the features has pypi dependencies defined.

src/cli/remove.rs

@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 use clap::Parser;
+use miette::Context;
 
 use crate::environment::update_prefix;
 use crate::DependencyType;
@@ -41,21 +42,33 @@ pub async fn execute(args: Args) -> miette::Result<()> {
     match dependency_type {
         DependencyType::PypiDependency => {
             for name in dependency_config.pypi_deps(&project)?.keys() {
-                project.manifest.remove_pypi_dependency(
-                    name,
-                    &dependency_config.platform,
-                    &dependency_config.feature_name(),
-                )?;
+                project
+                    .manifest
+                    .remove_pypi_dependency(
+                        name,
+                        &dependency_config.platform,
+                        &dependency_config.feature_name(),
+                    )
+                    .wrap_err(format!(
+                        "failed to remove PyPI dependency: '{}'",
+                        name.as_source()
+                    ))?;
             }
         }
         DependencyType::CondaDependency(spec_type) => {
             for name in dependency_config.specs()?.keys() {
-                project.manifest.remove_dependency(
-                    name,
-                    spec_type,
-                    &dependency_config.platform,
-                    &dependency_config.feature_name(),
-                )?;
+                project
+                    .manifest
+                    .remove_dependency(
+                        name,
+                        spec_type,
+                        &dependency_config.platform,
+                        &dependency_config.feature_name(),
+                    )
+                    .wrap_err(format!(
+                        "failed to remove dependency: '{}'",
+                        name.as_source()
+                    ))?;
             }
         }
     };