What This Error Means
You ran a Maven goal that needs a pom.xml, but Maven cannot find one in the current directory (or via -f).
How to Fix It
Change to the directory that contains pom.xml, then re-run the command.
If you need to run from another directory, specify the POM explicitly:mvn -f /absolute/or/relative/path/to/pom.xml <goal>
If you intended to run a goal on a specific module, run from the reactor root and use -pl <module> (plus -am if needed).
Why It Happens
You ran mvn from the wrong directory.
Your project uses a non-standard layout and the POM is not at the current path.
In CI, the checkout path or working directory is different than expected.
How to Verify
Run mvn -q -DforceStdout help:evaluate -Dexpression=project.artifactId and confirm it prints a project artifactId.
Re-run your original goal and confirm the POM-not-found error is gone.
Manual project location checks
Check that a pom.xml exists in the working directory: ls -la pom.xml.
If the POM is in a different directory, run Maven with -f: mvn -f path/to/pom.xml -DskipTests package.
In multi-module projects, run from the reactor root (the directory containing the aggregator pom.xml).
Examples
[ERROR] The goal you specified requires a project to execute but there is no POM in this directory (/path/to/dir). Please verify you invoked Maven from the correct directory.How Maven finds your project
Most Maven goals operate on a project model loaded from pom.xml.
If Maven cannot locate the POM, it does not know the project coordinates, repositories, or plugins to use, so it aborts.
Prevention Tips
In CI, set the job working directory explicitly before running Maven.
For monorepos, prefer mvn -f path/to/pom.xml ... so builds are independent of the current directory.
Document the reactor root and module layout for new contributors.
Where This Can Be Triggered
github.com/apache/maven/blob/maven-3.9.11/maven-core/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/lifecycle/internal/LifecycleStarter.java
Maven throws MissingProjectException with the "no POM in this directory" message when a project is required but pom.xml is missing. - GitHub
throw new MissingProjectException("The goal you specified requires a project to execute but there is no POM in this directory ("
+ workingDirectory.getAbsolutePath() + "). Please verify you invoked Maven from the correct directory.");