Why does Pkg say a package version already exists?

Pkg has already recorded that version for the Package in your Account. Another upload to the same name and version returns a conflict, even when its bytes are identical. The check includes Releases that are queued or failed, so the conflict alone does not prove that the version is installable.

Published versions are immutable. A distribution tag such as latest selects a version; changing the tag does not change the stored artifact.

Check the existing version

Confirm the registry URL and the Account used for publication. Package names are Account-local, so an authenticated lookup can resolve a different Package from an anonymous public lookup with the same name.

Inspect the Release status and registry metadata for the exact name and version. If the version is installable, compare its artifact integrity with the artifact you intended to distribute. If an earlier command lost its connection after sending the upload, the first publication may have completed successfully.

You can inspect Pkg's Release records with the CLI. Replace PACKAGE with the package name or pkg_… ID:

socra pkg release list PACKAGE

The list is paginated. Follow the returned --after cursor until you have checked every relevant page. To inspect one Release, replace RELEASE_ID with its prel_… ID:

socra pkg release retrieve PACKAGE RELEASE_ID

Release records identify their version, status, and artifact information. Inspect the error on a failed Release. Only successful Releases with the required artifact and manifest information appear as installable registry versions.

Publish a correction

If the intended files have changed, choose a new semantic version, run the package's checks, and publish the new artifact. Update consumers to the corrected version using their normal dependency and lockfile process.

If the existing version is already the correct artifact, reuse it. Repeating the upload is not a verification step and cannot replace the stored bytes.

Keep the previous version available for consumers that still depend on it. Deleting the whole Package has a much wider effect than publishing a fix: it can break installations and removes Package records. It is not a version-replacement mechanism.

The immutable version boundary lets a consumer verify the artifact it selected. It does not prove that the package's own tests passed; local uploads and managed Releases have different verification paths.