GoogleContainerTools/skaffold · error

creating docker context: %w

Error message

creating docker context: %w

What it means

Build streams the tarred build context through an io.Pipe; if CreateDockerTarContext fails while generating the tar (unreadable files, missing Dockerfile, context size/ignore issues), the writer is closed with this wrapped error. The build client reading from the pipe then surfaces it as the build failure.

Source

Thrown at pkg/skaffold/docker/image.go:358

	imageInfoEnv, err := EnvTags(opts.Tag)
	if err != nil {
		return "", fmt.Errorf("couldn't parse image tag: %w", err)
	}
	buildArgs, err := EvalBuildArgsWithEnv(opts.Mode, workspace, a.DockerfilePath, a.BuildArgs, opts.ExtraBuildArgs, imageInfoEnv)
	if err != nil {
		return "", fmt.Errorf("unable to evaluate build args: %w", err)
	}

	// Like `docker build`, we ignore the errors
	// See https://github.com/docker/cli/blob/75c1bb1f33d7cedbaf48404597d5bf9818199480/cli/command/image/build.go#L364
	authConfigs, _ := DefaultAuthHelper.GetAllAuthConfigs(ctx)

	buildCtx, buildCtxWriter := io.Pipe()
	go func() {
		err := CreateDockerTarContext(ctx, buildCtxWriter,
			NewBuildConfig(workspace, artifact, a.DockerfilePath, buildArgs), l.cfg)
		if err != nil {
			buildCtxWriter.CloseWithError(fmt.Errorf("creating docker context: %w", err))
			return
		}
		buildCtxWriter.Close()
	}()

	progressOutput := progress.NewProgressOutput(out)
	body := progress.NewProgressReader(buildCtx, progressOutput, 0, "", "Sending build context to Docker daemon")

	resp, err := l.apiClient.ImageBuild(ctx, body, client.ImageBuildOptions{
		Tags:        []string{opts.Tag},
		Dockerfile:  a.DockerfilePath,
		BuildArgs:   buildArgs,
		CacheFrom:   a.CacheFrom,
		AuthConfigs: authConfigs,
		Target:      a.Target,
		ForceRemove: l.forceRemove,
		NetworkMode: strings.ToLower(a.NetworkMode),
		ExtraHosts:  a.AddHost,

View on GitHub (pinned to a1189de023)

Solutions

1. Verify the Dockerfile exists at the configured path relative to the workspace
2. Check .dockerignore is not excluding the Dockerfile or required sources
3. Fix file permissions in the workspace
4. Confirm the `context`/workspace directory in skaffold.yaml points to the correct directory
5. Read the wrapped inner error to see the specific file that failed

Example fix

// before
artifacts:
  - image: app
    docker:
      dockerfile: build/Dockerfile   # file does not exist
// after
artifacts:
  - image: app
    docker:
      dockerfile: Dockerfile         # correct relative path

dockerfilePath := filepath.Join(workspace, a.DockerfilePath)
if _, err := os.Stat(dockerfilePath); err != nil {
	return fmt.Errorf("dockerfile missing at %s: %w", dockerfilePath, err)
}

imageID, err := daemon.Build(...)
if err != nil && strings.Contains(err.Error(), "creating docker context") {
	return fmt.Errorf("check dockerfile path / .dockerignore / permissions: %w", err)
}

When it happens

Trigger: CreateDockerTarContext returns an error while building the context from (workspace, artifact, a.DockerfilePath, buildArgs) — e.g. the Dockerfile path does not exist under workspace, files listed in the context are unreadable, or workspace path is wrong.

Common situations: Wrong relative dockerfilePath in skaffold.yaml; Dockerfile renamed or not committed in CI; .dockerignore excludes the Dockerfile itself; permission errors on source files; symlink issues when packaging the tar.

Related errors

• getting relative tar paths: %w
• creating docker context: %w
• creating tar gz: %w
• loading image into docker daemon: %w
• %q running container image %q errored during run with status

AI-assisted analysis of GoogleContainerTools/skaffold@a1189de023 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/183abcd760858073. Report an issue: GitHub.