GoogleContainerTools/skaffold · error

duplicate release name %s

Error message

duplicate release name %s

What it means

When building the Helm release dependency graph, skaffold validates that every release name in the deploy config is unique. If two releases share the same name, `NewDependencyGraph` returns `duplicate release name %s` because the graph cannot distinguish them.

Source

Thrown at pkg/skaffold/deploy/helm/dependencygraph.go:39

	"github.com/GoogleContainerTools/skaffold/v2/pkg/skaffold/schema/latest"
)

// DependencyGraph represents a graph of helm release dependencies
type DependencyGraph struct {
	graph           map[string][]string
	releases        []latest.HelmRelease
	hasDependencies bool
}

// NewDependencyGraph creates a new DependencyGraph from a list of helm releases
func NewDependencyGraph(releases []latest.HelmRelease) (*DependencyGraph, error) {
	graph := make(map[string][]string)
	releaseNames := make(map[string]bool)

	for _, r := range releases {
		if _, exists := releaseNames[r.Name]; exists {
			return nil, fmt.Errorf("duplicate release name %s", r.Name)
		}
		releaseNames[r.Name] = true
	}

	// Check for non-existent dependencies
	hasDependencies := false
	for _, r := range releases {
		for _, dep := range r.DependsOn {
			if !releaseNames[dep] {
				return nil, fmt.Errorf("release %s depends on non-existent release %s", r.Name, dep)
			}
			hasDependencies = true
		}
		graph[r.Name] = r.DependsOn
	}

	g := &DependencyGraph{
		graph:           graph,

View on GitHub (pinned to a1189de023)

Solutions

1. Rename one of the duplicate releases in skaffold.yaml so each `releases[].name` is unique
2. If the same chart should be installed twice, give each install a distinct release name (e.g. append a suffix)
3. Validate the config before deploy: `skaffold config` / schema check or run `skaffold diagnose`

Example fix

// before
releases:
  - name: myapp
    chartPath: charts/app
  - name: myapp
    chartPath: charts/app-v2

// after
releases:
  - name: myapp
    chartPath: charts/app
  - name: myapp-v2
    chartPath: charts/app-v2

seen := map[string]bool{}
for _, r := range cfg.Deploy.Helm.Releases {
    if seen[r.Name] {
        return fmt.Errorf("duplicate release name %s", r.Name)
    }
    seen[r.Name] = true
}

When it happens

Trigger: skaffold.yaml `deploy.helm.releases` contains two entries with the same `name` field; NewDependencyGraph is called during helm Deploy and by setHelmDefaults.

Common situations: Copy-paste of a release block in skaffold.yaml with the name left unchanged; generated/templated config producing repeated release names.

Related errors

• release %s depends on non-existent release %s
• unable to create dependency graph: %w
• cycle detected involving release %q
• unable to get releases by level: %w
• unable to expand %q: %w

AI-assisted analysis of GoogleContainerTools/skaffold@a1189de023 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/b9805143d8f05689. Report an issue: GitHub.