GoogleContainerTools/skaffold · error

failed determining Google Cloud Storage remote cache directo

Error message

failed determining Google Cloud Storage remote cache directory for %q: %w

What it means

SyncObjects wraps a failure from getPerSourceDir(g), which derives the per-source subdirectory name from the configured GCS source (g.Source). If the source string cannot be parsed/normalized into a cache directory component, syncing cannot proceed. The %q verb logs the offending source value and %w preserves the cause.

Source

Thrown at pkg/skaffold/gcs/gsutil.go:90

type gscClient interface {
	// Downloads the content that match the given src uri and subfolders.
	DownloadRecursive(ctx context.Context, src, dst string) error
}

// SyncObjects syncs the target Google Cloud Storage objects with skaffold's local cache and returns the local path to the objects.
func SyncObjects(ctx context.Context, g latest.GoogleCloudStorageInfo, opts config.SkaffoldOptions) (string, error) {
	remoteCacheDir, err := config.GetRemoteCacheDir(opts)
	if err != nil {
		return "", fmt.Errorf("failed determining remote cache directory: %w", err)
	}
	if err := os.MkdirAll(remoteCacheDir, 0700); err != nil {
		return "", fmt.Errorf("failed creating remote cache directory: %w", err)
	}

	sourceDir, err := getPerSourceDir(g)
	if err != nil {
		return "", fmt.Errorf("failed determining Google Cloud Storage remote cache directory for %q: %w", g.Source, err)
	}
	cacheDir := filepath.Join(remoteCacheDir, sourceDir)
	if _, err := os.Stat(cacheDir); os.IsNotExist(err) {
		// If cache doesn't exist and cloning is disabled then we can't move forward.
		if opts.SyncRemoteCache.CloneDisabled() {
			return "", syncDisabledErr(g, cacheDir)
		}
		// The subdirectory needs to exist to work with gsutil.
		if err := os.MkdirAll(cacheDir, 0700); err != nil {
			return "", fmt.Errorf("failed creating Google Cloud Storage cache directory for %q: %w", g.Source, err)
		}
	} else {
		// If sync property is false then skip fetching latest object from remote storage.
		if g.Sync != nil && !*g.Sync {
			return cacheDir, nil
		}
		// If sync is turned off via flag `--sync-remote-cache` then skip fetching latest object from remote storage.
		if opts.SyncRemoteCache.FetchDisabled() {

View on GitHub (pinned to a1189de023)

Solutions

1. Inspect the quoted %q value in the error to see what Source was actually configured
2. Fix the Source in skaffold.yaml to a valid gs:// bucket/path URL
3. Ensure the Source field is non-empty and matches the schema of your skaffold version
4. Test the URL with `gsutil ls <source>` to confirm it is a valid GCS path

Example fix

// before
gcs:
  cache:
    source: "storage.googleapis.com/my-bucket"
// after
gcs:
  cache:
    source: "gs://my-bucket/path"

// validate the GCS source before calling SyncObjects
if gcsInfo.Source == "" {
	return errors.New("gcs.cache.source must be set in skaffold.yaml")
}
if !strings.HasPrefix(gcsInfo.Source, "gs://") {
	return fmt.Errorf("gcs source must start with gs://, got %q", gcsInfo.Source)
}

func isValidGCSSource(src string) bool {
	u, err := url.Parse(src)
	return err == nil && u.Scheme == "gs" && strings.TrimPrefix(u.Path, "/") != ""
}

localPath, err := gcs.SyncObjects(ctx, gcsInfo, opts)
if err != nil {
	if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "failed determining Google Cloud Storage remote cache directory") {
		log.Errorf("check gcs cache 'source' value in skaffold.yaml (got %q)", gcsInfo.Source)
	}
	return err
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling SyncObjects with a GoogleCloudStorageInfo.Source that getPerSourceDir cannot handle: empty Source, malformed gs:// URL, or a source form the function's parsing doesn't expect.

Common situations: skaffold.yaml gcs.cache.syncSource / source field left empty or misspelled; hand-edited gs:// URL with typos or extra path segments; config schema differences across skaffold versions changing what Source should contain.

Related errors

• failed determining remote cache directory: %w
• bucket name is empty
• CONFIG_REMOTE_REPO_CACHE_NOT_FOUND_ERR
• error closing GCS writer: %w
• copy file(s) with %s failed: %w

AI-assisted analysis of GoogleContainerTools/skaffold@a1189de023 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/43dde8c1bcfbd2b9. Report an issue: GitHub.