invalid log prefix '%s'. Valid values are 'auto', 'container

Error message

invalid log prefix '%s'. Valid values are 'auto', 'container', 'podAndContainer' or 'none'

What it means

The deploy.logs.prefix field controls how pod/container names are prefixed in Skaffold's log output. Only '', 'auto', 'container', 'podAndContainer', and 'none' are accepted; any other string fails validation.

Source

Thrown at pkg/skaffold/schema/validation/validation.go:698

	if bc.GoogleCloudBuild != nil && bc.GoogleCloudBuild.WorkerPool != "" {
		if !gcbWorkerPoolPattern.MatchString(bc.GoogleCloudBuild.WorkerPool) {
			cfgErrs = append(cfgErrs, ErrorWithLocation{
				Error:    fmt.Errorf("invalid value for worker pool. Must match pattern projects/{project}/locations/{location}/workerPools/{worker_pool}"),
				Location: cfg.YAMLInfos.Locate(&cfg.Build.GoogleCloudBuild.WorkerPool),
			})
		}
	}
	return cfgErrs
}

// validateLogPrefix checks that logs are configured with a valid prefix.
func validateLogPrefix(cfg *parser.SkaffoldConfigEntry, lc latest.LogsConfig) []ErrorWithLocation {
	validPrefixes := []string{"", "auto", "container", "podAndContainer", "none"}

	if !stringslice.Contains(validPrefixes, lc.Prefix) {
		return []ErrorWithLocation{
			{
				Error:    fmt.Errorf("invalid log prefix '%s'. Valid values are 'auto', 'container', 'podAndContainer' or 'none'", lc.Prefix),
				Location: cfg.YAMLInfos.Locate(&cfg.Deploy.Logs),
			},
		}
	}

	return nil
}

// validateVerifyTests
// - makes sure that each test name is unique
// - makes sure that each container name is unique
func validateVerifyTests(runCtx *runcontext.RunContext) []error {
	var errs []error
	seenTestName := map[string]bool{}
	seenContainerName := map[string]bool{}
	tcs := []*latest.VerifyTestCase{}
	for _, pipeline := range runCtx.GetPipelines() {
		tcs = append(tcs, pipeline.Verify...)

View on GitHub (pinned to a1189de023)

Solutions

Set prefix to one of 'auto', 'container', 'podAndContainer', or 'none'
Remove the deploy.logs.prefix field to accept the default ('auto')

Example fix

# before
deploy:
  logs:
    prefix: pod
# after
deploy:
  logs:
    prefix: podAndContainer

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

const valid = ['', 'auto', 'container', 'podAndContainer', 'none'];
const p = config.deploy?.logs?.prefix;
if (p !== undefined && !valid.includes(p)) throw new Error(`invalid log prefix '${p}'`);

Type guard

function hasValidLogPrefix(cfg) {
  const p = cfg?.deploy?.logs?.prefix;
  return p === undefined || ['', 'auto', 'container', 'podAndContainer', 'none'].includes(p);
}

Try / catch

try {
  await skaffold.dev(config);
} catch (e) {
  if (/invalid log prefix/.test(e.message)) {
    console.error('Use one of: auto, container, podAndContainer, none');
  } else throw e;
}

Prevention

Treat logs.prefix as an enum; never free-form text
Omit the field when unsure (defaults to auto)
Add enum checks to your skaffold.yaml linting

When it happens

Trigger: deploy.logs.prefix set to an unsupported value (e.g. 'pod', 'full', 'true') processed via ProcessToErrorWithLocation -> validateLogPrefix.

Common situations: Guessing the prefix value instead of using documented enum values, or migrating from another tool's log config keys.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of GoogleContainerTools/skaffold@a1189de023 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/ac0f5c0152e7d340. Report an issue: GitHub.