GoogleContainerTools/skaffold · error

could not find config field %s

Error message

could not find config field %s

What it means

Internal inconsistency guard in getFieldIndex: the yaml tag matching the requested field name was found on the config struct, but reflect could not resolve a FieldByName for it (e.g. embedded/duplicated field naming). Users should essentially never see this; the user-facing error is the 'is not a valid config field' one.

Source

Thrown at cmd/skaffold/app/cmd/config/set.go:94

}

func getFieldIndex(cfg *config.ContextConfig, name string, val string) ([]int, interface{}, error) {
	valI := getValueInterface(cfg, val)
	cs, err := getConfigStructWithIndex(cfg)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, nil, err
	}

	allConfigFields := make(map[string]bool)
	for i := 0; i < cs.value.NumField(); i++ {
		fieldType := cs.rType.Field(i)
		for _, tag := range strings.Split(fieldType.Tag.Get("yaml"), ",") {
			allConfigFields[tag] = true
			if tag == name {
				if f, ok := cs.rType.FieldByName(fieldType.Name); ok {
					return append(cs.idx, f.Index...), valI, nil
				}
				return nil, valI, fmt.Errorf("could not find config field %s", name)
			}
		}
	}

	return nil, nil, fmt.Errorf(
		"%q is not a valid config field.\nAvailable fields are: %s",
		name,
		strings.Join(slices.Collect(maps.Keys(allConfigFields)), ", "),
	)
}

func getValueInterface(cfg *config.ContextConfig, value string) interface{} {
	if !isUserSurvey() {
		return value
	}
	if cfg.Survey == nil {
		cfg.Survey = &config.SurveyConfig{}
	}

View on GitHub (pinned to a1189de023)

Solutions

1. Verify the exact field name with `skaffold config list --all`
2. Update skaffold to the latest version in case of a fixed reflection bug
3. If persistent, report as a bug to the skaffold project with the field name used

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at cmd/skaffold/app/cmd/config/set.go:94 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of GoogleContainerTools/skaffold@a1189de023 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/0a215181dbc32c96. Report an issue: GitHub.