# CSS files for composer theme are not loaded by DevKinsta **URL:** \ **Category:** Application Support\ **Created:** [September 9, 2026, 5:21am UTC](https://community.kinsta.com/t/css-files-for-composer-theme-are-not-loaded-by-devkinsta/7606 "2026-09-09T05:21:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![nicolepaton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7feea3/32.png) [@nicolepaton](https://community.kinsta.com/u/nicolepaton)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2026, 5:21am UTC](https://community.kinsta.com/t/css-files-for-composer-theme-are-not-loaded-by-devkinsta/7606/1 "2026-09-09T05:21:06Z")
I have cloned a site directly from Kinsta into a new install of DevKinsta however it is not loading correctly. The css and js files are not loading and a 403 is returned for the parent folder where these files are located. This folder is \wsl.localhost\docker-desktop\mnt\docker-desktop-disk\data\docker\volumes\DevKinsta\public\outcomes\wp-content\themes\open-theme\assets\dist\frontend The site uses a theme built with composer so I have followed the instructions here: [Support for Composer - #14 by Olivier\_Bigras](https://community.kinsta.com/t/support-for-composer/175/14) to install composer and here: [Install Node and Gulp](https://community.kinsta.com/t/install-node-and-gulp/2804) to install node into the Docker Container however that has not fixed the problem. The source code shows where as on the live site it showns The same applies to the JS file. What else do I need to do so DevKinsta will load the files as outlined in manifest.json in the frontend folder location? Thanks very much, Nicole ---
**Author:** ![VladimirM](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.kinsta.com/vladimirm/32/2786_2.png) [@VladimirM](https://community.kinsta.com/u/VladimirM)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2026, 9:55am UTC](https://community.kinsta.com/t/css-files-for-composer-theme-are-not-loaded-by-devkinsta/7606/3 "2026-09-09T09:55:48Z")
Hello there 👋 I wasn’t able to replicate this, although I’m using a Mac, so the issue might be specific to WSL/Windows and Docker. I didn’t have to install anything in order for the site to work. Can you please share your [main log](https://kinsta.com/docs/devkinsta/devkinsta-troubleshooting/error-codes/#viewing-the-application-log-file) here (I’ll redact it afterwards)? Also, are you manually setting up a site or are you using DevKinsta’s pull from Kinsta? Kind regards ---
**Author:** ![nicolepaton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7feea3/32.png) [@nicolepaton](https://community.kinsta.com/u/nicolepaton)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2026, 1:45am UTC](https://community.kinsta.com/t/css-files-for-composer-theme-are-not-loaded-by-devkinsta/7606/4 "2026-09-10T01:45:47Z")
HI Vladimir, thanks for your assistance. I am pulling this site directly from Kinsta and it is working perfectly there. I have not changed anything about the site or the theme files at all except the config details to make it work on DevKinsta. I can see some errors in the main log which relate to json parsing and syntax however this theme is working on Kinsta itself. Can you please take a look at the log file (I created a fresh one) and let me know your thoughts? Thanks ---
**Author:** ![VladimirM](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.kinsta.com/vladimirm/32/2786_2.png) [@VladimirM](https://community.kinsta.com/u/VladimirM)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2026, 6:49am UTC](https://community.kinsta.com/t/css-files-for-composer-theme-are-not-loaded-by-devkinsta/7606/5 "2026-09-10T06:49:34Z")
Hello @nicolepaton 👋 I checked the log and there are 2 different types of JSON-related errors. The ‘SyntaxError: Unexpected non-whitespace character after JSON…’ is not the cause, we’ve seen it before even in sites that work fine. The other one’s I’m curious about like: “SyntaxError: Unexpected token ‘/’, “/docker/vo”…” are different but non-specific at the moment. Please try the following: 1. Fix permissions With DevKinsta and Docker running, please go to Command line and run these two: `docker exec -it devkinsta_fpm chown -R www-data:www-data /www/kinsta/public/outcomes/wp-content/themes/open-theme/assets` `docker exec -it devkinsta_fpm chmod -R 755 /www/kinsta/public/outcomes/wp-content/themes/open-theme/assets` Refresh without cache, or in incognito tab and check. 1. Run ‘build’ in theme directory You stated you already installed composer and node, but I’m not sure if you ran build and if you installed it in theme directory. If you haven’t, follow all steps, if not, just the ones for build. Go to Terminal and run: 1. `docker exec -it devkinsta_fpm bash` 2. navigate to theme directory by running: `cd /www/kinsta/public/outcomes/wp-content/themes/open-theme` 3. skip first two if you already installed them in your theme directory: `composer install` `npm install` `npm run build` You also should try resetting permalinks. In the WordPress admin area, go to **Settings \> Permalinks** and click **Save Changes** to refresh routing rules. Since we are troubleshooting blind, there might be some back and forth, and I’m not sure these steps would work, but please try that. 🙏 ---
**Author:** ![nicolepaton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7feea3/32.png) [@nicolepaton](https://community.kinsta.com/u/nicolepaton)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2026, 7:37am UTC](https://community.kinsta.com/t/css-files-for-composer-theme-are-not-loaded-by-devkinsta/7606/6 "2026-09-10T07:37:14Z")
Hi Vladimir, Thanks very much for your detailed assistance. I have done step 1 and that did not work to fix the theme. It still looks the same. I have tried to do step 2, however I’m getting stuck at the composer install step. It does not appear to be available to install despite the fact that I did follow the steps outlined in the other thread: [Support for Composer - #10 by DavidME](https://community.kinsta.com/t/support-for-composer/175/10) . In that case I had installed in the tmp folder as per that thread. So this time when your steps above did not work I tried to follow the same steps again in the theme folder. Got through the install but the theme doesn’t have a package.json file and I’m not the original developer so I’m a bit unsure where to go from here. It still isn’t running in the browser in the same way as it does live on Kinsta where it also doesn’t have the package.json file. Here is my terminal log: root@bffba833335a:/tmp# composer install bash: composer: command not found root@bffba833335a:/tmp# cd /www/kinsta/public/outcomes/wp-content/themes/open-theme root@bffba833335a:/www/kinsta/public/outcomes/wp-content/themes/open-theme# composer install bash: composer: command not found root@bffba833335a:/www/kinsta/public/outcomes/wp-content/themes/open-theme# php -r “copy(‘[https://getcomposer.org/installer](https://getcomposer.org/installer)’, ‘composer-setup.php’);” root@bffba833335a:/www/kinsta/public/outcomes/wp-content/themes/open-theme# php -r “if (hash\_file(‘sha384’, ‘composer-setup.php’) === ‘c8b085408188070d5f52bcfe4ecfbee5f727afa458b2573b8eaaf77b3419b0bf2768dc67c86944da1544f06fa544fd47’) { echo ‘Installer verified’; } else { echo ‘Installer corrupt’; unlink(‘composer-setup.php’); } echo PHP\_EOL;” Installer verified root@bffba833335a:/www/kinsta/public/outcomes/wp-content/themes/open-theme# php composer-setup.php All settings correct for using Composer Downloading… Composer (version 2.10.3) successfully installed to: /www/kinsta/public/outcomes/wp-content/themes/open-theme/composer.phar Use it: php composer.phar root@bffba833335a:/www/kinsta/public/outcomes/wp-content/themes/open-theme# composer install bash: composer: command not found root@bffba833335a:/www/kinsta/public/outcomes/wp-content/themes/open-theme# php composer.phar install Composer could not detect the root package (\*ogdev/open-theme) version, defaulting to ‘1.0.0’. See [Troubleshooting - Composer](https://getcomposer.org/root-version) Installing dependencies from lock file (including require-dev) Verifying lock file contents can be installed on current platform. Warning: The lock file is not up to date with the latest changes in composer.json. You may be getting outdated dependencies. It is recommended that you run `composer update` or `composer update `. Nothing to install, update or remove Generating autoload files root@bffba833335a:/www/kinsta/public/outcomes/wp-content/themes/open-theme# npm install npm WARN saveError ENOENT: no such file or directory, open ‘/www/kinsta/public/outcomes/wp-content/themes/open-theme/package.json’ npm notice created a lockfile as package-lock.json. You should commit this file. npm WARN enoent ENOENT: no such file or directory, open ‘/www/kinsta/public/outcomes/wp-content/themes/open-theme/package.json’ npm WARN open-theme No description npm WARN open-theme No repository field. npm WARN open-theme No README data npm WARN open-theme No license field. npm notice This endpoint is being retired. Use the bulk advisory endpoint instead. See the following docs for more info: [npm Registry API](https://api-docs.npmjs.com/#tag/Audit) up to date in 0.362s found 0 vulnerabilities root@bffba833335a:/www/kinsta/public/outcomes/wp-content/themes/open-theme# npm run build npm ERR! code ENOENT npm ERR! syscall open npm ERR! path /www/kinsta/public/outcomes/wp-content/themes/open-theme/package.json npm ERR! errno -2 npm ERR! enoent ENOENT: no such file or directory, open ‘/www/kinsta/public/outcomes/wp-content/themes/open-theme/package.json’ npm ERR! enoent This is related to npm not being able to find a file. npm ERR! enoent npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in: npm ERR! /root/.npm/\_logs/2026-09-10T07\_27\_27\_548Z-debug.log root@bffba833335a:/www/kinsta/public/outcomes/wp-content/themes/open-theme# Thanks again for trying to help. ---
**Author:** ![VladimirM](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.kinsta.com/vladimirm/32/2786_2.png) [@VladimirM](https://community.kinsta.com/u/VladimirM)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2026, 8:02am UTC](https://community.kinsta.com/t/css-files-for-composer-theme-are-not-loaded-by-devkinsta/7606/7 "2026-09-10T08:02:52Z")
Let’s go back to the first step and leave composer/npm for now. Please try running this instead (3rd one restarts NGINX) `docker exec -it devkinsta_fpm chmod -R 755 /www/kinsta/public/outcomes/wp-content/themes/open-theme` `docker exec -it devkinsta_fpm chown -R www-data:www-data /www/kinsta/public/outcomes/wp-content/themes/open-theme` `docker restart devkinsta_nginx` I need to make sure we reset permissions and restart NGINX. Please write back afterwards 🙏 ---
**Author:** ![nicolepaton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7feea3/32.png) [@nicolepaton](https://community.kinsta.com/u/nicolepaton)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2026, 8:25am UTC](https://community.kinsta.com/t/css-files-for-composer-theme-are-not-loaded-by-devkinsta/7606/8 "2026-09-10T08:25:21Z")
Hi Vladimir, Thanks. That has now been done. No change to the appearance of the site in a new incognito window. Nicole ---
**Author:** ![VladimirM](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.kinsta.com/vladimirm/32/2786_2.png) [@VladimirM](https://community.kinsta.com/u/VladimirM)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2026, 9:06am UTC](https://community.kinsta.com/t/css-files-for-composer-theme-are-not-loaded-by-devkinsta/7606/9 "2026-09-10T09:06:08Z")
@Nicole 👋 I think I had this all wrong the entire time, it just occurred to me that this theme is using HTTP URL instead of file paths to read directly from the disk in one of the configuration files. Strictly speaking, this is outside of our scope of service in both forum or support chats, but I had to test on my end and it worked by replacing the code. I’ll send you the new code in DM. What to do: 1. Find the theme-general.php file in /wp-content/themes/open-theme/inc 2. rename it to i.e. theme-general.php.bak 3. Create a new theme-general.php 4. Add the code I sent you to DM 5. Test and let me know if it works Kind regards ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/uploads/kinsta/original/2X/8/80f8c4e56fecc02327a0964e6bf63a716483529f.png) [@system](https://community.kinsta.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2026, 6:42am UTC](https://community.kinsta.com/t/css-files-for-composer-theme-are-not-loaded-by-devkinsta/7606/10 "2026-09-14T06:42:05Z")
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