GoogleContainerTools/jib · error · GradleException

container.creationTime should be an ISO 8601 date-time (see

Error message

container.creationTime should be an ISO 8601 date-time (see DateTimeFormatter.ISO_DATE_TIME) or a special keyword ("EPOCH", "USE_CURRENT_TIMESTAMP"): ${ex.getInvalidCreationTime()}

What it means

jib's buildTar task wraps InvalidCreationTimeException in a GradleException because the 'container.creationTime' build configuration could not be parsed. Jib expects the value to be an ISO 8601 date-time parseable by DateTimeFormatter.ISO_DATE_TIME, or one of the special keywords "EPOCH" or "USE_CURRENT_TIMESTAMP". The raw invalid string is included in the message via ex.getInvalidCreationTime().

Source

Thrown at jib-gradle-plugin/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/tools/jib/gradle/BuildTarTask.java:179

          "from.platforms contains a platform configuration that is missing required values or has invalid values: "
              + ex.getMessage()
              + ": "
              + ex.getInvalidPlatform(),
          ex);

    } catch (InvalidContainerVolumeException ex) {
      throw new GradleException(
          "container.volumes is not an absolute Unix-style path: " + ex.getInvalidVolume(), ex);

    } catch (InvalidFilesModificationTimeException ex) {
      throw new GradleException(
          "container.filesModificationTime should be an ISO 8601 date-time (see "
              + "DateTimeFormatter.ISO_DATE_TIME) or special keyword \"EPOCH_PLUS_SECOND\": "
              + ex.getInvalidFilesModificationTime(),
          ex);

    } catch (InvalidCreationTimeException ex) {
      throw new GradleException(
          "container.creationTime should be an ISO 8601 date-time (see "
              + "DateTimeFormatter.ISO_DATE_TIME) or a special keyword (\"EPOCH\", "
              + "\"USE_CURRENT_TIMESTAMP\"): "
              + ex.getInvalidCreationTime(),
          ex);

    } catch (JibPluginExtensionException ex) {
      String extensionName = ex.getExtensionClass().getName();
      throw new GradleException(
          "error running extension '" + extensionName + "': " + ex.getMessage(), ex);

    } catch (IncompatibleBaseImageJavaVersionException ex) {
      throw new GradleException(
          HelpfulSuggestions.forIncompatibleBaseImageJavaVersionForGradle(
              ex.getBaseImageMajorJavaVersion(), ex.getProjectMajorJavaVersion()),
          ex);

    } catch (InvalidImageReferenceException ex) {

View on GitHub (pinned to fb949e2676)

Solutions

1. Change container.creationTime to a full ISO 8601 date-time, e.g. '2023-01-15T10:30:00+00:00' or '2023-01-15T10:30:00Z'
2. Use the special keyword 'USE_CURRENT_TIMESTAMP' to stamp images with build time, or 'EPOCH' for Unix epoch 0
3. If the value comes from a property, print/validate it with java.time.format.DateTimeFormatter.ISO_DATE_TIME.parse(value) before passing it to Jib

Example fix

// before
jib.container.creationTime = '01/15/2023 10:30'
// after
jib.container.creationTime = '2023-01-15T10:30:00Z'
// or
jib.container.creationTime = 'USE_CURRENT_TIMESTAMP'

def validCreationTime = { s ->
  s in ['EPOCH', 'USE_CURRENT_TIMESTAMP'] ||
  { try { java.time.format.DateTimeFormatter.ISO_DATE_TIME.parse(s); true } catch (ignored) { false } ) }
}
assert validCreationTime(jib.container.creationTime.get())

When it happens

Trigger: Setting container { creationTime = ... } in the jib Gradle extension with a string that is neither ISO 8601 (e.g. '2021-07-13' date-only, or a custom format like 'MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm:ss') nor the exact keywords EPOCH / USE_CURRENT_TIMESTAMP, then running any jib task including jibBuildTar (BuildTarTask.buildTar).

Common situations: Developers copy a human-readable date from logs or a Dockerfile-style date into creationTime; they use a date-only value without time and offset; they use a different keyword like 'now' or 'current' assuming it is supported.

Related errors

• container.filesModificationTime should be an ISO 8601 date-t
• container.creationTime should be an ISO 8601 date-time (see
• container.filesModificationTime should be an ISO 8601 date-t
• container.filesModificationTime should be an ISO 8601 date-t
• container.creationTime should be an ISO 8601 date-time (see

AI-assisted analysis of GoogleContainerTools/jib@fb949e2676 (2026-09-06). Data as JSON: /api/errors/7b486b1b711c85d4. Report an issue: GitHub.