diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/apache/stormcrawler/spout/FileSpout.java b/core/src/main/java/org/apache/stormcrawler/spout/FileSpout.java
index 8e2a9edd0..12c405550 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/apache/stormcrawler/spout/FileSpout.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/apache/stormcrawler/spout/FileSpout.java
@@ -60,15 +60,18 @@ public class FileSpout extends BaseRichSpout {
 
     public static final int BATCH_SIZE = 10000;
     public static final Logger LOG = LoggerFactory.getLogger(FileSpout.class);
-    private final Queue<String> inputFiles;
-    protected SpoutOutputCollector collector;
+    private transient Queue<String> inputFiles;
+    private final String seedDir;
+    private final String fileFilter;
+    private final String[] seedFiles;
+    protected transient SpoutOutputCollector collector;
     protected Scheme scheme = new StringTabScheme();
     protected LinkedList<byte[]> buffer = new LinkedList<>();
     protected boolean active;
-    protected int totalTasks;
-    protected int taskIndex;
+    protected transient int totalTasks;
+    protected transient int taskIndex;
     private BufferedReader currentBuffer;
-    private boolean withDiscoveredStatus = false;
+    private final boolean withDiscoveredStatus;
 
     /**
      * @param dir containing the seed files
@@ -94,18 +97,9 @@ public FileSpout(String... files) {
      */
     public FileSpout(String dir, String filter, boolean withDiscoveredStatus) {
         this.withDiscoveredStatus = withDiscoveredStatus;
-        Path pdir = Paths.get(dir);
-        inputFiles = new LinkedList<>();
-        LOG.info("Reading directory: {} (filter: {})", pdir, filter);
-        try (DirectoryStream<Path> stream = Files.newDirectoryStream(pdir, filter)) {
-            for (Path entry : stream) {
-                String inputFile = entry.toAbsolutePath().toString();
-                inputFiles.add(inputFile);
-                LOG.info("Input : {}", inputFile);
-            }
-        } catch (IOException ioe) {
-            LOG.error("IOException: %s%n", ioe);
-        }
+        this.seedDir = dir;
+        this.fileFilter = filter;
+        this.seedFiles = null;
     }
 
     /**
@@ -115,12 +109,13 @@ public FileSpout(String dir, String filter, boolean withDiscoveredStatus) {
      * @since 1.13
      */
     public FileSpout(boolean withDiscoveredStatus, String... files) {
-        this.withDiscoveredStatus = withDiscoveredStatus;
         if (files.length == 0) {
             throw new IllegalArgumentException("Must configure at least one inputFile");
         }
-        inputFiles = new LinkedList<>();
-        Collections.addAll(inputFiles, files);
+        this.withDiscoveredStatus = withDiscoveredStatus;
+        this.seedDir = null;
+        this.fileFilter = null;
+        this.seedFiles = files;
     }
 
     /**
@@ -195,6 +190,35 @@ public void open(
         // same as the number of shards
         totalTasks = context.getComponentTasks(context.getThisComponentId()).size();
         taskIndex = context.getThisTaskIndex();
+
+        // Resolve the seeds here, not in the constructor: in distributed mode the
+        // spout is serialised on the submit client and only open() runs on the
+        // workers, where the seed directory/files actually live (issue #1955).
+        inputFiles = new LinkedList<>();
+        populateInputFiles();
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Resolves the configured seed directory or file list into {@link #inputFiles}. Called from
+     * {@link #open} so the filesystem is read on the worker, not on the client at construction
+     * time.
+     */
+    private void populateInputFiles() {
+        if (seedDir != null) {
+            Path pdir = Paths.get(seedDir);
+            LOG.info("Reading directory: {} (filter: {})", pdir, fileFilter);
+            try (DirectoryStream<Path> stream = Files.newDirectoryStream(pdir, fileFilter)) {
+                for (Path entry : stream) {
+                    String inputFile = entry.toAbsolutePath().toString();
+                    inputFiles.add(inputFile);
+                    LOG.info("Input : {}", inputFile);
+                }
+            } catch (IOException ioe) {
+                LOG.error("IOException while reading seed directory {}", pdir, ioe);
+            }
+        } else {
+            Collections.addAll(inputFiles, seedFiles);
+        }
     }
 
     @Override
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/apache/stormcrawler/spout/FileSpoutTest.java b/core/src/test/java/org/apache/stormcrawler/spout/FileSpoutTest.java
index e0447b281..d8770fe88 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/apache/stormcrawler/spout/FileSpoutTest.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/apache/stormcrawler/spout/FileSpoutTest.java
@@ -159,6 +159,77 @@ void testBzip2SeedFile(@org.junit.jupiter.api.io.TempDir Path tempDir) throws Ex
         assertEquals("https://github.com", tuple.get(0));
     }
 
+    @Test
+    void testDirectoryResolvedAtOpenNotConstruction(@org.junit.jupiter.api.io.TempDir Path tempDir)
+            throws Exception {
+        // Build the spout while the directory is still empty.
+        final FileSpout spout = new FileSpout(tempDir.toAbsolutePath().toString(), "*.txt");
+
+        // Create the seed file AFTER construction but BEFORE open().
+        // On today's code the constructor already listed the (empty) directory,
+        // so nothing is emitted. Once resolution moves to open(), the file is seen.
+        Files.write(
+                tempDir.resolve("seeds.txt"),
+                "https://stormcrawler.apache.org\n".getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8));
+
+        final FileSpoutOutputCollectorMock collectorMock = new FileSpoutOutputCollectorMock();
+        spout.open(Map.of(), new FileSpoutTopologyContextMock(), collectorMock);
+        spout.activate();
+        spout.nextTuple();
+
+        final List<Object> tuple = collectorMock.getTuple();
+        assertNotNull(tuple);
+        assertEquals("https://stormcrawler.apache.org", tuple.get(0));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    void testDirectoryConstructorHappyPath(@org.junit.jupiter.api.io.TempDir Path tempDir)
+            throws Exception {
+        Files.write(
+                tempDir.resolve("seeds.txt"),
+                "https://stormcrawler.apache.org\n".getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8));
+
+        final FileSpout spout = new FileSpout(tempDir.toAbsolutePath().toString(), "*.txt");
+        final FileSpoutOutputCollectorMock collectorMock = new FileSpoutOutputCollectorMock();
+        spout.open(Map.of(), new FileSpoutTopologyContextMock(), collectorMock);
+        spout.activate();
+        spout.nextTuple();
+
+        final List<Object> tuple = collectorMock.getTuple();
+        assertNotNull(tuple);
+        assertEquals("https://stormcrawler.apache.org", tuple.get(0));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    void testSurvivesSerialization(@org.junit.jupiter.api.io.TempDir Path tempDir)
+            throws Exception {
+        Files.write(
+                tempDir.resolve("seeds.txt"),
+                "https://stormcrawler.apache.org\n".getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8));
+
+        final FileSpout spout = new FileSpout(tempDir.toAbsolutePath().toString(), "*.txt");
+
+        final java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream bos = new java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream();
+        try (java.io.ObjectOutputStream oos = new java.io.ObjectOutputStream(bos)) {
+            oos.writeObject(spout);
+        }
+        final FileSpout restored;
+        try (java.io.ObjectInputStream ois =
+                new java.io.ObjectInputStream(
+                        new java.io.ByteArrayInputStream(bos.toByteArray()))) {
+            restored = (FileSpout) ois.readObject();
+        }
+
+        final FileSpoutOutputCollectorMock collectorMock = new FileSpoutOutputCollectorMock();
+        restored.open(Map.of(), new FileSpoutTopologyContextMock(), collectorMock);
+        restored.activate();
+        restored.nextTuple();
+
+        final List<Object> tuple = collectorMock.getTuple();
+        assertNotNull(tuple);
+        assertEquals("https://stormcrawler.apache.org", tuple.get(0));
+    }
+
     private Path getPath(String resource) throws URISyntaxException {
         return Path.of(
                 Objects.requireNonNull(