How to Fix Supervisor FATAL State Caused by a Missing uWSGI INI File

While deploying a Python application using uWSGI and Supervisor, we encountered an issue where Supervisor repeatedly reported the program status as FATAL, even after correcting the configuration—prompting the need to fix Supervisor FATAL missing uWSGI INI file errors to restore proper service execution.

Running:

sudo supervisorctl status

returned:

api   FATAL   Exited too quickly (process log may have details)

The root cause was that the INI file specified in the Supervisor command= directive did not exist when Supervisor initially tried to start the process.

Example of an incorrect configuration:

command=/var/www/html/website.com/venv/bin/uwsgi --ini api.ini

Why This Happens

Supervisor attempts to start the program

uWSGI exits immediately because the INI file path is invalid

Supervisor marks the process as FATAL

Running reread and update does not restart a FATAL process automatically

Correct the Supervisor configuration

Ensure the INI file path is absolute and valid:

[program:api]
command=/var/www/html/website.com/venv/bin/uwsgi --ini /var/www/html/website.com/api.ini
directory=/var/www/html/website.com
user=www-data
autostart=true
autorestart=true
stdout_logfile=/var/log/api.log
stderr_logfile=/var/log/api.err.log

Remove the program from Supervisor’s internal state

This step is essential.

sudo supervisorctl stop api
sudo supervisorctl remove api

Re-read and update Supervisor

sudo supervisorctl reread
sudo supervisorctl update

sudo supervisorctl start api

Verify the status:

sudo supervisorctl status

Expected output:

api   RUNNING   pid 1234, uptime 00:00:30

Test uWSGI directly

sudo -u www-data /var/www/html/website.com/venv/bin/uwsgi --ini /var/www/html/website.com/api.ini

• If this fails, the issue lies within api.ini, not Supervisor.

• Supervisor marks processes as FATAL when they exit immediately

• Fixing configuration files alone is insufficient

• You must remove and re-add the program in Supervisor

• Always use absolute paths for uWSGI INI files

• Manual uWSGI testing helps isolate configuration issues

Supervisor’s FATAL state can be misleading without understanding its behavior.

Once you know that a FATAL process must be explicitly reset, recovery is straightforward.

If you’re still struggling to Fix Supervisor FATAL missing uWSGI INI file issues or facing recurring deployment errors in your Python environment, our expert assistance can save you time and prevent downtime. A reliable provider of server management services can help diagnose configuration issues, optimize uWSGI and Supervisor setups, and ensure your applications run smoothly with minimal disruption.