GoogleContainerTools/jib · error · IOException

'docker save' command failed with error: + getStderrOutput(d

Error message

'docker save' command failed with error: + getStderrOutput(dockerProcess)

What it means

CliDockerClient.save() runs 'docker save <image>' and copies stdout into the target file with a byte-count listener. If the docker process exits nonzero after the copy, Jib throws IOException ''docker save' command failed with error: <stderr>'. This means docker could not export the requested image.

Source

Thrown at jib-core/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/tools/jib/docker/CliDockerClient.java:270

      return output;
    }
  }

  @Override
  public void save(
      ImageReference imageReference, Path outputPath, Consumer<Long> writtenByteCountListener)
      throws InterruptedException, IOException {
    Process dockerProcess = docker("save", imageReference.toString());

    try (InputStream stdout = new BufferedInputStream(dockerProcess.getInputStream());
        OutputStream fileStream = new BufferedOutputStream(Files.newOutputStream(outputPath));
        NotifyingOutputStream notifyingFileStream =
            new NotifyingOutputStream(fileStream, writtenByteCountListener)) {
      ByteStreams.copy(stdout, notifyingFileStream);
    }

    if (dockerProcess.waitFor() != 0) {
      throw new IOException(
          "'docker save' command failed with error: " + getStderrOutput(dockerProcess));
    }
  }

  @Override
  public DockerImageDetails inspect(ImageReference imageReference)
      throws IOException, InterruptedException {
    Process inspectProcess =
        docker("inspect", "-f", "{{json .}}", "--type", "image", imageReference.toString());

    try (InputStreamReader stdout =
        new InputStreamReader(inspectProcess.getInputStream(), StandardCharsets.UTF_8)) {
      String output = CharStreams.toString(stdout);

      if (inspectProcess.waitFor() != 0) {
        throw new IOException(
            "'docker inspect' command failed with error: " + getStderrOutput(inspectProcess));
      }

View on GitHub (pinned to fb949e2676)

Solutions

Check stderr in the message — 'No such image' means the image is not in the local docker cache
Run 'docker images' to confirm the exact image reference/tag exists locally
Pull or build the image first (docker pull / docker build), then retry save()
If it's a daemon error (disk/permission), free space or fix permissions and retry

Example fix

// before
dockerClient.save(ImageReference.of(null, "myapp", null)); // image never built locally
// after
runCommand("docker", "pull", "myapp:latest"); // or docker build first
DockerClient dockerClient = new CliDockerClient();
dockerClient.save(ImageReference.of(null, "myapp", "latest"), tarPath, listener);

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

// Confirm the image exists locally before save
Process p = new ProcessBuilder("docker", "image", "inspect", ref.toString()).start();
if (p.waitFor() != 0) throw new IllegalStateException("Image not in local docker cache: " + ref);

Prevention

Always pull or build the image before saving
Use fully-qualified image references including the tag
Check disk space on the docker host before large exports

When it happens

Trigger: The 'docker save' process spawned by save(imageReference, ...) returns a nonzero exit code from waitFor(), typically because the image does not exist locally or the daemon hit an error during export.

Common situations: Requesting save() for an image reference not present in the local docker cache (never pulled/built), mistyped tag, or daemon failure (disk full, permission error) while writing the tar stream.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of GoogleContainerTools/jib@fb949e2676 (2026-09-06). Data as JSON: /api/errors/5f079ec8ddf67bf9. Report an issue: GitHub.