GoogleContainerTools/skaffold · error

getting service %s/%s: %w

Error message

getting service %s/%s: %w

What it means

After obtaining the client, findNewestPodForService fetches the Service object named serviceName in namespace ns. If the API server Get call fails, the error is wrapped as "getting service <ns>/<name>: <cause>". This wraps transport, auth, or not-found errors returned by client-go when reading the Service.

Source

Thrown at pkg/skaffold/kubernetes/portforward/kubectl_forwarder.go:267

				case err <- nil:
				default:
				}
			}
		}
	}
}

// findNewestPodForService queries the cluster to find a pod that fulfills the given service, giving
// preference to pods that were most recently created.  This is in contrast to the selection algorithm
// used by kubectl (see https://github.com/GoogleContainerTools/skaffold/issues/4522 for details).
func findNewestPodForService(ctx context.Context, kubeContext, ns, serviceName string, servicePort schemautil.IntOrString) (string, int, error) {
	client, err := kubernetesclient.Client(kubeContext)
	if err != nil {
		return "", -1, fmt.Errorf("getting Kubernetes client: %w", err)
	}
	svc, err := client.CoreV1().Services(ns).Get(ctx, serviceName, metav1.GetOptions{})
	if err != nil {
		return "", -1, fmt.Errorf("getting service %s/%s: %w", ns, serviceName, err)
	}
	svcPort, err := findServicePort(*svc, servicePort)
	if err != nil {
		return "", -1, err
	}

	// Look for pods with matching selectors and that are not terminated.
	// We cannot use field selectors as they are only supported in 1.16
	// https://github.com/flant/shell-operator/blob/8fa3c3b8cfeb1ddb37b070b7a871561fdffe788b/HOOKS.md#fieldselector
	set := labels.Set(svc.Spec.Selector)
	listOptions := metav1.ListOptions{
		LabelSelector: set.AsSelector().String(),
	}
	podsList, err := client.CoreV1().Pods(ns).List(ctx, listOptions)
	if err != nil {
		return "", -1, fmt.Errorf("listing pods: %w", err)
	}
	var pods []corev1.Pod

View on GitHub (pinned to a1189de023)

Solutions

1. Check the service exists: `kubectl get svc <name> -n <namespace>` with the same kubeContext; deploy it if missing.
2. Verify the namespace in the skaffold port-forward resource config matches where the service was created.
3. Fix cluster connectivity/auth (`kubectl cluster-info`, re-authenticate).
4. If RBAC, grant the user's identity `get` on services in that namespace.

Example fix

// before: forwarding resource names a service that is not deployed
- resourceName: my-service
  namespace: default
// after: deploy the service or use the correct name/namespace
- resourceName: web-svc
  namespace: prod

svc, err := client.CoreV1().Services(ns).Get(ctx, serviceName, metav1.GetOptions{})
if apierrors.IsNotFound(err) {
    return fmt.Errorf("service %s/%s does not exist yet; deploy it before port-forwarding", ns, serviceName)
}

func serviceExists(err error) bool {
    return err == nil || !apierrors.IsNotFound(err)
}

if _, err := findNewestPodForService(ctx, kubeContext, ns, svcName, port); err != nil {
    if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "getting service") {
        log.Warnf("service %s/%s unreachable: %v — is the app deployed?", ns, svcName, err)
    }
}

When it happens

Trigger: client.CoreV1().Services(ns).Get(ctx, serviceName, metav1.GetOptions{}) returns an error: service does not exist (NotFound), namespace does not exist, RBAC denies services get, or the API server is unreachable/times out.

Common situations: Port-forwarding a service whose manifest was never applied (or was applied in a different namespace); typo'd serviceName in kubectl port-forward resources; cluster connectivity dropped mid-session; restricted RBAC in shared clusters.

Related errors

• patching resource %s/%q: %w
• getting server resources for group version: %w
• listing pods: %w
• STATUSCHECK_DEPLOYMENT_FETCH_ERR
• STATUSCHECK_STATEFULSET_FETCH_ERR

AI-assisted analysis of GoogleContainerTools/skaffold@a1189de023 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/0eb70dd04f60e46c. Report an issue: GitHub.