GoogleContainerTools/skaffold · error

creating tagger: %w

Error message

creating tagger: %w

What it means

`NewForConfig` builds the runner and first constructs a tagger mux from the skaffold.yaml `build.tagPolicy` for every pipeline. This error wraps any failure while instantiating that tagger — e.g. an invalid envTemplate, a git tagger that can't resolve the repo, or malformed customTemplate components.

Source

Thrown at pkg/skaffold/runner/new.go:56

	"github.com/GoogleContainerTools/skaffold/v2/pkg/skaffold/tag"
	"github.com/GoogleContainerTools/skaffold/v2/pkg/skaffold/test"
	"github.com/GoogleContainerTools/skaffold/v2/pkg/skaffold/trigger"
	"github.com/GoogleContainerTools/skaffold/v2/pkg/skaffold/verify"
)

// NewForConfig returns a new SkaffoldRunner for a SkaffoldConfig
func NewForConfig(ctx context.Context, runCtx *runcontext.RunContext) (*SkaffoldRunner, error) {
	event.InitializeState(runCtx)
	event.LogMetaEvent()
	eventV2.InitializeState(runCtx)
	eventV2.LogMetaEvent()
	_, endTrace := instrumentation.StartTrace(context.Background(), "NewForConfig")
	defer endTrace()

	tagger, err := tag.NewTaggerMux(runCtx)
	if err != nil {
		endTrace(instrumentation.TraceEndError(err))
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("creating tagger: %w", err)
	}

	store := build.NewArtifactStore()
	g := graph.ToArtifactGraph(runCtx.Artifacts())
	sourceDependencies := graph.NewSourceDependenciesCache(runCtx, store, g)

	isLocalImage := func(imageName string) (bool, error) {
		return isImageLocal(runCtx, imageName)
	}

	// Always add skaffold-specific labels, except during `skaffold render`
	labeller := label.NewLabeller(runCtx.AddSkaffoldLabels(), runCtx.CustomLabels(), runCtx.GetRunID())
	tester, err := getTester(ctx, runCtx, isLocalImage)
	if err != nil {
		endTrace(instrumentation.TraceEndError(err))
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("creating tester: %w", err)
	}

View on GitHub (pinned to a1189de023)

Solutions

1. Inspect the inner error and fix the `build.tagPolicy` entry in skaffold.yaml.
2. For envTemplate, validate the Go template string and that all referenced env vars are set.
3. For gitCommit tagger, run inside a git repo (`git status` should succeed) or switch to shaTagger.
4. For dateTime tagger, use a valid IANA timezone (e.g. `UTC`, `America/New_York`) and supported format.
5. Use `skaffold diagnose` to surface config-level problems early.

Example fix

// skaffold.yaml before
build:
  tagPolicy:
    envTemplate:
      template: "{{.BAD{{""
// after
build:
  tagPolicy:
    envTemplate:
      template: "{{.RELEASE}}"

for _, p := range pipelines {
  if p.Build.TagPolicy.EnvTemplateTagger != nil {
    if _, err := template.New("t").Parse(p.Build.TagPolicy.EnvTemplateTagger.Template); err != nil {
      return fmt.Errorf("invalid envTemplate %q: %w", p.Build.TagPolicy.EnvTemplateTagger.Template, err)
    }
  }
}

runner, err := runner.NewForConfig(runCtx)
if err != nil {
  var tagErr = "creating tagger"
  if strings.Contains(err.Error(), tagErr) {
    return fmt.Errorf("skaffold.yaml build.tagPolicy is invalid: %w", err)
  }
  return err
}

When it happens

Trigger: Any skaffold command that builds a runner when `tag.NewTaggerMux` fails: invalid `envTemplate` syntax (bad Go template), custom template referencing unknown env vars/components, `gitCommit` tagger used outside a git repository, or DateTimeTagger with an invalid timezone/format.

Common situations: Tag policy like `envTemplate: "{{.FOO}}"` with a malformed template expression; running in a non-git directory with `gitCommit` tag policy; invalid IANA timezone in dateTime tagger; typo in customTemplate component args.

Related errors

• getting tagger: %w
• unexpected artifact type %q: %s
• image %q context %q is not a directory
• creating tester: %w
• no valid tagger found for artifact: %q

AI-assisted analysis of GoogleContainerTools/skaffold@a1189de023 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/7b331ddf5dabc5a2. Report an issue: GitHub.