GoogleContainerTools/skaffold · error

generating

Error message

generating : %w

What it means

`skaffold generate-pipeline` asks the runner to generate a CI pipeline file (pipeline.yaml) from the skaffold configs via `r.GeneratePipeline`. This wrapper propagates any error from that generation. It means the runner could not produce a valid pipeline config, often because the underlying skaffold configs failed to load, the configs are for an unsupported structure, or the runner itself failed to initialize.

Solutions

1. Confirm the skaffold config file(s) parse: run `skaffold diagnose -f <file>` to see load errors first.
2. Check the --config flag values point at valid skaffold.yaml files.
3. Since generate-pipeline is deprecated/limited, generate the CI config with your CI system's native tooling instead.
4. Update skaffold — newer versions removed unsupported generate-pipeline paths.

Example fix

// before: command against a broken config
skaffold generate-pipeline --config skaffold.yaml
// after: validate the config first, fix errors, then retry
skaffold diagnose -f skaffold.yaml
skaffold generate-pipeline --config skaffold.yaml

// Validate the configs load cleanly before attempting generate-pipeline
const diag = execFileSync('skaffold', ['diagnose', '-f', 'skaffold.yaml'], {stdio: 'pipe'});
if (diag.length && /error|invalid|failed/i.test(diag.toString())) throw new Error('skaffold.yaml has errors; generate-pipeline would fail');

try {
  execFileSync('skaffold', ['generate-pipeline', '--config', 'skaffold.yaml']);
} catch (e) {
  const msg = e.stderr?.toString() ?? '';
  if (msg.includes('generating')) {
    console.error('Pipeline generation failed; validate configs with `skaffold diagnose` or use CI-native tooling.');
  } else throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Running `skaffold generate-pipeline` where `r.GeneratePipeline(ctx, out, configs, configFiles, "pipeline.yaml")` fails — e.g. the skaffold.yaml(s) listed in --config could not be loaded into the runner, or pipeline generation doesn't support the config's contents.

Common situations: Legacy command used against configs with build/test/deploy sections it can't translate; config files missing or unparseable; running in environments where the runner factory fails (bad kubecontext config etc.).

Related errors

• creating runner
• failed to test
• action not found for k8s execution mode
• action not found for local execution mode
• `apply` requires at least one manifest argument

AI-assisted analysis of GoogleContainerTools/skaffold@a1189de023 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/d0f9a185020989cb. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at cmd/skaffold/app/cmd/generate_pipeline.go:49

var (
	configFiles []string
)

func NewCmdGeneratePipeline() *cobra.Command {
	return NewCmd("generate-pipeline").
		Hidden().
		WithDescription("[ALPHA] Generate tekton pipeline from skaffold.yaml").
		WithCommonFlags().
		WithFlags([]*Flag{
			{Value: &configFiles, Name: "config-files", DefValue: []string{}, Usage: "Select additional files whose artifacts to use when generating pipeline."},
		}).
		NoArgs(doGeneratePipeline)
}

func doGeneratePipeline(ctx context.Context, out io.Writer) error {
	return withRunner(ctx, out, func(r runner.Runner, configs []util.VersionedConfig) error {
		if err := r.GeneratePipeline(ctx, out, configs, configFiles, "pipeline.yaml"); err != nil {
			return fmt.Errorf("generating : %w", err)
		}
		output.Default.Fprintln(out, "Pipeline config written to pipeline.yaml!")
		return nil
	})
}

View on GitHub (pinned to a1189de023)