GoogleContainerTools/skaffold · error

%s is not a valid value for field %s

Error message

%s is not a valid value for field %s

What it means

Raised in setConfigValue when parseAsType cannot convert the user-supplied CLI value to the type of the config field being set via `skaffold config set`. The value fails type-specific parsing (e.g. a non-boolean for a bool field, non-integer for an int field).

Source

Thrown at cmd/skaffold/app/cmd/config/set.go:71

	cfg, err := getConfigForKubectxOrDefault()
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}

	fieldIdx, valI, err := getFieldIndex(cfg, name, value)
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}

	lastIdx := 0
	if isUserSurvey() {
		lastIdx = fieldIdx[len(fieldIdx)-1]
		fieldIdx = fieldIdx[:len(fieldIdx)-1]
	}
	field := reflect.Indirect(reflect.ValueOf(cfg)).FieldByIndex(fieldIdx)
	val, err := parseAsType(valI, field, lastIdx, value)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("%s is not a valid value for field %s", value, name)
	}
	reflect.ValueOf(cfg).Elem().FieldByIndex(fieldIdx).Set(val)

	return writeConfig(cfg)
}

func getFieldIndex(cfg *config.ContextConfig, name string, val string) ([]int, interface{}, error) {
	valI := getValueInterface(cfg, val)
	cs, err := getConfigStructWithIndex(cfg)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, nil, err
	}

	allConfigFields := make(map[string]bool)
	for i := 0; i < cs.value.NumField(); i++ {
		fieldType := cs.rType.Field(i)
		for _, tag := range strings.Split(fieldType.Tag.Get("yaml"), ",") {
			allConfigFields[tag] = true

View on GitHub (pinned to a1189de023)

Solutions

1. Check the field's expected type with `skaffold config list` and supply a value of that type (e.g. true/false for boolean fields, integers for numeric fields)
2. For string values containing special characters, quote the value on the command line
3. Drop any unsupported syntax (lists, objects) — use the config file directly for complex values

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at cmd/skaffold/app/cmd/config/set.go:71 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of GoogleContainerTools/skaffold@a1189de023 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/66b00545f9e085a2. Report an issue: GitHub.