GoogleContainerTools/skaffold · error

getting user choices

Error message

getting user choices

What it means

chooseBuilders shows a survey.MultiSelect asking which image builders should get Kubernetes resources during interactive init. If askOne fails, it returns an empty list wrapped as 'getting user choices' (note: the underlying error is discarded, making this one less debuggable). Any prompt failure aborts builder selection.

Source

Thrown at pkg/skaffold/initializer/prompt/prompt.go:90

	}
	err := askOne(prompt, &response, nil)
	if err != nil {
		return true, fmt.Errorf("reading user confirmation: %w", err)
	}

	return !response, nil
}

// chooseBuilders prompts the user to select which builders they'd like to create associated kubernetes manifests for
func chooseBuilders(builders []string) ([]string, error) {
	chosen := []string{}
	prompt := &survey.MultiSelect{
		Message: "Which builders would you like to create kubernetes resources for?",
		Options: builders,
	}
	err := askOne(prompt, &chosen)
	if err != nil {
		return []string{}, fmt.Errorf("getting user choices")
	}

	return chosen, err
}

// PortForwardResource prompts the user to give a port to forward the current resource on
func portForwardResource(out io.Writer, imageName string) (int, error) {
	var response string
	prompt := &survey.Question{
		Prompt: &survey.Input{Message: fmt.Sprintf("Select port to forward for %s (leave blank for none):", imageName)},
		Validate: func(val interface{}) error {
			str := val.(string)
			if _, err := strconv.Atoi(str); err != nil && str != "" {
				return errors.New("response must be a number, or empty")
			}
			return nil
		},
	}

View on GitHub (pinned to a1189de023)

Solutions

1. Run init in an interactive TTY, or supply builder info non-interactively (--builder / auto-detection) so prompts are skipped
2. Use --force with explicit flags in CI to bypass all prompts
3. Check that stdin/stdout are real terminals; reattach with ssh -t

Example fix

// before
ssh server 'skaffold init'   # no pty
// after
ssh -t server 'skaffold init'   # or: skaffold init --force

if !term.IsTerminal(int(os.Stdin.Fd())) || !term.IsTerminal(int(os.Stdout.Fd())) {
    return fmt.Errorf("interactive builder selection requires a TTY; use --builder instead")
}

chosen, err := chooseBuilders(builders)
if err != nil {
    // the sentinel message hides the cause; fall back to non-interactive defaults
    log.Printf("builder prompt unavailable (%v); defaulting to all detected builders", err)
    chosen = defaultBuilders
}

When it happens

Trigger: askOne(&survey.MultiSelect{...}) errors while running interactive init — no TTY, stdin closed/eof, or terminal incompatibility with the survey library.

Common situations: CI/non-interactive shells triggering init prompts; ssh without pty; output redirected so the survey UI can't render; user aborts with Ctrl-C/EOF.

Related errors

• reading user confirmation: %w
• unable to generate skaffold config file automatically - try
• response must be a number, or empty
• loading manifests: %w
• generating : %w

AI-assisted analysis of GoogleContainerTools/skaffold@a1189de023 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/aa5627c45aa5118c. Report an issue: GitHub.