Scala 3: no given instance of type X was found

Quick fix

Read the commands before running them. Anything that restarts a service, deletes data or changes permissions should be tried on a non-production system first.

// Import the givens explicitly
import io.circe.generic.auto.given
import scala.concurrent.ExecutionContext.Implicits.global

// Ask the compiler to show its search
// scalac -Xprint:typer  or  -explain
scalac -explain Main.scala

// Define one locally when the library does not provide it
given Ordering[MyType] = Ordering.by(_.id)

How to diagnose Scala errors

Scala's most distinctive error class is binary incompatibility: libraries are published per Scala major version, and mixing artifacts built for different versions produces confusing "not a member of" or NoSuchMethodError failures. The %% operator in sbt exists precisely to append the right suffix, and most unresolved-dependency errors are a % where %% was needed.

If the quick fix above does not resolve it, work through these steps. They apply to this whole class of error, not just to this one message, which is usually what saves the time.

1. Check the Scala version suffix on every dependency. Use %% for Scala libraries and plain % only for Java ones.
2. Run sbt evicted to list dependencies that were evicted by version conflict. A frequent source of runtime NoSuchMethodError.
3. Use sbt dependencyTree to see the resolved graph and locate the transitive dependency pulling in an old version.
4. For inference failures, add explicit type annotations at the boundary rather than at the error site; inference failures usually propagate from further up.
5. Clear stale state with sbt clean and remove ~/.ivy2/cache or ~/.cache/coursier entries only for the specific failing artifact.

Tools worth reaching for

• sbt evicted
• sbt dependencyTree
• coursier resolve
• scalac -explain
• MiMa (binary compat checks)

Authoritative references

Primary documentation for this error, worth reading before applying any fix in production.

📖 docs.scala-lang.org

Related Scala errors

• Scala: java.lang.NoSuchMethodError: scala.Predef$.refArrayOpsThe code compiled against one version of the Scala library and is running against another…
• Scala: NoClassDefFoundError: scala/collection/IterableOnceA jar built for a different Scala version is on the classpath. Scala is only binary…
• Scala: sbt unresolved dependencysbt could not download a library: wrong coordinates, a missing resolver, a Scala-version…
• Scala: type mismatch; found: Unit, required: StringThe last expression in the block is an assignment or a `for` loop, both of which evaluate to…
• Scala: value X is not a member of YYou called a method that does not exist on the type, often a missing import for an extension…

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Something missing or wrong?

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