GoogleContainerTools/skaffold · error

failed to create the tmp directory: %w

Error message

failed to create the tmp directory: %w

What it means

ConstructOverrideArgs handles helm values files that start with `gs://` by downloading them into a temporary directory via extractValueFileFromGCS. Before that it calls os.MkdirTemp; if the OS refuses to create the temp dir, this error is wrapped and the whole override-args construction aborts.

Source

Thrown at pkg/skaffold/helm/args.go:106

		// hack required when using new Skaffold v2.X.Y setValueTemplates w/ Skaffold v1.X.Y "imageStrategy: helm"
		// ex: image: "{{.Values.image.repository}}:{{.Values.image.tag}}"
		// when the helm template replacements are done with `dev` and `run` there
		// is an additional `@` suffix inserted that needs to be removed or else deploys will fail
		v = strings.TrimSuffix(v, "@")

		args = append(args, "--set", fmt.Sprintf("%s=%s", expandedKey, v))
	}

	gcs := gcs.NewGsutil()

	for _, v := range r.ValuesFiles {
		tempValueFile := v

		// if the file starts with gs:// then download it in tmp dir
		if strings.HasPrefix(v, gcsPrefix) {
			tempDir, err := os.MkdirTemp("", valueFileFromGCS)
			if err != nil {
				return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to create the tmp directory: %w", err)
			}

			if extractedFilePath, err := extractValueFileFromGCS(v, tempDir, gcs); err != nil {
				return nil, err
			} else {
				tempValueFile = extractedFilePath
			}
		}

		exp, err := homedir.Expand(tempValueFile)
		if err != nil {
			return nil, fmt.Errorf("unable to expand %q: %w", v, err)
		}

		exp, err = util.ExpandEnvTemplate(exp, envMap)
		if err != nil {
			return nil, err
		}

View on GitHub (pinned to a1189de023)

Solutions

1. Ensure TMPDIR points to a writable directory, or unset a broken TMPDIR so /tmp is used.
2. Free disk space if the filesystem is full (`df -h`).
3. Fix permissions on the temp directory location for the user running Skaffold.
4. As a workaround, download the GCS values file yourself and reference the local path in the helm config.

Example fix

// before (CI with read-only tmp)
TMPDIR=/nonexistent skaffold deploy
// after
export TMPDIR=/home/ci/tmp && mkdir -p $TMPDIR && skaffold deploy

if strings.HasPrefix(valuesPath, "gs://") {
	tmp := os.TempDir()
	if fi, err := os.Stat(tmp); err != nil || !fi.IsDir() {
		f, err := os.CreateTemp(tmp, "skaffold-probe")
		if err != nil {
			return fmt.Errorf("temp dir %s not writable: %w", tmp, err)
		}
		f.Close(); os.Remove(f.Name())
	}
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling ConstructOverrideArgs with a values file path starting with `gs://` (gcsPrefix) while os.MkdirTemp("", valueFileFromGCS) fails — no writable TMPDIR, disk full, or overly restrictive permissions.

Common situations: CI containers with read-only /tmp or unwritable TMPDIR; disk-quota exhaustion on the build machine; custom TMPDIR pointing at a non-existent directory; using GCS-hosted helm values files in sandboxed runners.

Related errors

• tempdir: %w
• failed to create directory: %v
• error opening file: %w
• failed to create file: %v
• failed creating Google Cloud Storage cache directory for %q:

AI-assisted analysis of GoogleContainerTools/skaffold@a1189de023 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/780c6da3abcac35f. Report an issue: GitHub.