GoogleContainerTools/skaffold · error

cannot fetch remote index for multiple platform image %q: %w

Error message

cannot fetch remote index for multiple platform image %q: %w

What it means

getRemoteDigest first tries to read the image as a multi-platform index; when that fails and more than one platform was requested, it cannot fall back to a single-platform image, so it returns "cannot fetch remote index for multiple platform image %q" wrapping the registry error. Without an index, there is no single digest to represent all requested platforms.

Source

Thrown at pkg/skaffold/docker/remote.go:77

	var pl v1.Platform
	if len(platforms) == 1 {
		pl = util.ConvertToV1Platform(platforms[0])
	}
	img, err := getRemoteImage(src, cfg, pl)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("getting image: %w", err)
	}

	return remote.Write(targetRef, img, remote.WithAuthFromKeychain(primaryKeychain))
}

func getRemoteDigest(identifier string, cfg Config, platforms []specs.Platform) (string, error) {
	idx, err := getRemoteIndex(identifier, cfg)
	if err == nil {
		return digest(idx)
	}
	if len(platforms) > 1 {
		return "", fmt.Errorf("cannot fetch remote index for multiple platform image %q: %w", identifier, err)
	}
	var pl v1.Platform
	if len(platforms) == 1 {
		pl = util.ConvertToV1Platform(platforms[0])
	}
	img, err := getRemoteImage(identifier, cfg, pl)
	if err != nil {
		return "", fmt.Errorf("getting image: %w", err)
	}

	return digest(img)
}

// RetrieveRemoteConfig retrieves the remote config file for an image
func RetrieveRemoteConfig(identifier string, cfg Config, platform v1.Platform) (*v1.ConfigFile, error) {
	img, err := getRemoteImage(identifier, cfg, platform)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, err

View on GitHub (pinned to a1189de023)

Solutions

1. Ensure the pushed image is actually a manifest list (build with multi-arch support, e.g. `docker buildx` with --platform).
2. Inspect with `crane manifest <image>` — if mediaType is not an index, the push produced a single-arch image.
3. Check the registry supports manifest lists/OCI indexes (older Quay/proxy caches may not).
4. If only one platform is really needed, pass a single platform so the code falls back to getRemoteImage.
5. Check the wrapped error — often auth or connectivity caused the index fetch to fail rather than a missing index.

Example fix

// before
skaffold.Push(tar, tag, cfg, []specs.Platform{{Architecture:"amd64"},{Architecture:"arm64"}}) // image is single-arch
// after — verify it is an index
m, _ := crane.Manifest(tag)
if !strings.Contains(m, "manifest list") && !strings.Contains(m, "index") { platforms = nil } // fall back to single-platform lookup
skaffold.Push(tar, tag, cfg, platforms)

func isManifestList(ref string) (bool, error) {
	m, err := crane.Manifest(ref)
	if err != nil { return false, err }
	mt := struct{ MediaType string `json:"mediaType"` }{}
	if err := json.Unmarshal([]byte(m), &mt); err != nil { return false, err }
	return strings.Contains(mt.MediaType, "index") || strings.Contains(mt.MediaType, "manifest.list"), nil
}

func supportsMultiPlatform(platforms []specs.Platform, ref string) bool {
	if len(platforms) <= 1 { return true }
	isIdx, err := isManifestList(ref)
	return err == nil && isIdx
}

digest, err := docker.Push(tarPath, tag, cfg, platforms)
if err != nil && strings.Contains(err.Error(), "cannot fetch remote index for multiple platform image") {
	log.Warn("pushed image is not a manifest list; retrying single-platform digest lookup")
	digest, err = docker.Push(tarPath, tag, cfg, platforms[:1])
}

When it happens

Trigger: Push called with platforms of length >1 whose pushed image is a plain single-arch manifest (no manifest list), so getRemoteIndex fails on the registry GET of the manifest list.

Common situations: Building/pushing a multi-platform request where the build only produced one image; registry or proxy strips manifest lists; older registries that do not support OCI image indexes.

Related errors

• getting auth config: %w
• getting auth config for %q: %w
• %s %q: %w
• pulling image from repository: %w
• retrieving image config: %w

AI-assisted analysis of GoogleContainerTools/skaffold@a1189de023 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/31be343404c441e8. Report an issue: GitHub.