GoogleContainerTools/skaffold · error

generating : %w

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.

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)

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

• failed to test: %w
• creating runner: %w
• `apply` requires at least one manifest argument
• `exec` requires exactly one action to execute
• `config-dependencies add` requires exactly one file path arg

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