GoogleContainerTools/skaffold · error

failed to parse platforms: %w

Error message

failed to parse platforms: %w

What it means

NewResolver parses the platform selection supplied via CLI options (opts.CliPlatformsSelection) using Parse; any parse failure is wrapped in this error. It means the --platform value (or equivalent option) is syntactically invalid, so no platform resolver can be constructed. The wrapped error names the offending token.

Source

Thrown at pkg/skaffold/platform/resolver.go:65

	CheckClusterNodePlatforms bool
}

func (r Resolver) GetPlatforms(imageName string) Matcher {
	if r.platformsByImageName == nil {
		return Matcher{}
	}
	return r.platformsByImageName[imageName]
}

func NewResolver(ctx context.Context, pipelines []latest.Pipeline, opts ResolverOpts) (Resolver, error) {
	r := Resolver{}
	r.platformsByImageName = make(map[string]Matcher)

	var fromCli, fromClusterNodes Matcher
	var err error
	fromCli, err = Parse(opts.CliPlatformsSelection)
	if err != nil {
		return r, fmt.Errorf("failed to parse platforms: %w", err)
	}
	log.Entry(ctx).Debugf("CLI platforms provided: %q", fromCli)
	instrumentation.AddCliBuildTargetPlatforms(fromCli.String())

	if opts.CheckClusterNodePlatforms {
		fromClusterNodes, err = getClusterPlatforms(ctx, opts.KubeContext)
		if err != nil {
			log.Entry(ctx).Debugf("failed to get cluster node details: %v", err)
			log.Entry(ctx).Warnln("failed to detect active kubernetes cluster node platform. Specify the correct build platform in the `skaffold.yaml` file or using the `--platform` flag")
		}
		log.Entry(ctx).Debugf("platforms detected from active kubernetes cluster nodes: %q", fromClusterNodes)
		instrumentation.AddDeployNodePlatforms(fromClusterNodes.String())
	} else {
		log.Entry(ctx).Debugln("platform detection from active kubernetes cluster is not enabled")
	}

	for _, pipeline := range pipelines {
		platforms := fromCli

View on GitHub (pinned to a1189de023)

Solutions

1. Fix the --platform syntax to os/arch form, e.g. linux/amd64 or linux/amd64,darwin/arm64
2. Remove empty components (no linux/ or /amd64) and unknown OS/arch tokens
3. Run with a known-good value like --platform linux/amd64 to confirm the flag wiring, then adjust
4. If platforms should come from the cluster instead, omit the CLI selection rather than passing an invalid one

Example fix

// before
skaffold build --platform linux/
// after
skaffold build --platform linux/amd64

function validPlatformSelection(sel) {
  if (typeof sel !== "string" || sel.length === 0) return false;
  return sel.split(",").every(p => {
    const [os, arch] = p.split("/");
    return os && arch && os.length > 0 && arch.length > 0;
  });
}
if (!validPlatformSelection(cliPlatforms)) throw new Error("invalid --platform value");

function isValidPlatformToken(p) {
  return /^[a-z0-9]+\/[a-z0-9]+$/.test(p);
}

try {
  resolver, err := platform.NewResolver(opts)
  if err != nil {
    if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "failed to parse platforms") {
      return fmt.Errorf("bad --platform value %q: %w", opts.CliPlatformsSelection, err)
    }
    return err
  }
}

When it happens

Trigger: NewResolver (or NewForConfig) is called with opts.CliPlatformsSelection that Parse cannot parse: empty but set, malformed like linux/ or /amd64, invalid tokens like linux/x86_64, or a bad multi-platform list format.

Common situations: Passing --platform with a trailing slash or empty component; comma vs. space confusion in multi-platform values; using Docker-style names (macos) or arch aliases (x86_64) not accepted by the parser.

Understand the failure class

• Parsing and encoding errors: unexpected token, malformed input — why parsers reject input and how to find the real culprit.

Related errors

• `apply` requires at least one manifest argument
• `exec` requires exactly one action to execute
• `config-dependencies add` requires exactly one file path arg
• `jobManifestPaths modify` requires exactly one manifest file
• `inspect namespaces list` requires exactly one manifest file

AI-assisted analysis of GoogleContainerTools/skaffold@a1189de023 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/0e19d296950570aa. Report an issue: GitHub.