GoogleContainerTools/skaffold · error

starting logger: %w

Error message

starting logger: %w

What it means

VerifyAndLog starts the verify run's log streamer before executing verify tests so test logs are captured. If the verifier's logger fails to start (e.g. cannot initialize its output stream or connection), the error is wrapped as "starting logger: %w" and the verify run aborts.

Source

Thrown at pkg/skaffold/runner/verify.go:43

	"github.com/GoogleContainerTools/skaffold/v2/pkg/skaffold/constants"
	deployutil "github.com/GoogleContainerTools/skaffold/v2/pkg/skaffold/deploy/util"
	eventV2 "github.com/GoogleContainerTools/skaffold/v2/pkg/skaffold/event/v2"
	"github.com/GoogleContainerTools/skaffold/v2/pkg/skaffold/graph"
	"github.com/GoogleContainerTools/skaffold/v2/pkg/skaffold/instrumentation"
	"github.com/GoogleContainerTools/skaffold/v2/pkg/skaffold/output"
	"github.com/GoogleContainerTools/skaffold/v2/pkg/skaffold/output/log"
)

// VerifyAndLog deploys a list of already built artifacts and optionally show the logs.
func (r *SkaffoldRunner) VerifyAndLog(ctx context.Context, out io.Writer, artifacts []graph.Artifact) error {
	defer r.verifier.GetLogger().Stop()

	// Logs should be retrieved up to just before the verify tests run
	r.verifier.GetLogger().SetSince(time.Now())

	// Start logger immediately as it needs to be running to get test logs immediately
	if err := r.verifier.GetLogger().Start(ctx, out); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("starting logger: %w", err)
	}

	// Run verify
	if err := r.Verify(ctx, out, artifacts); err != nil {
		return err
	}

	return nil
}

func (r *SkaffoldRunner) Verify(ctx context.Context, out io.Writer, artifacts []graph.Artifact) error {
	defer r.verifier.GetStatusMonitor().Reset()

	out, ctx = output.WithEventContext(ctx, out, constants.Verify, constants.SubtaskIDNone)

	if len(artifacts) > 0 {
		output.Default.Fprintln(out, "Tags used in verification:")

View on GitHub (pinned to a1189de023)

Solutions

1. Read the wrapped cause after 'starting logger:'
2. Verify cluster connectivity and RBAC permission to read pod logs (`kubectl logs` works)
3. Re-run with the cluster/context the verify pods run in
4. Update Skaffold if the cause points to a logger internals bug

Example fix

// before
kubectl auth can-i get pods/log -n test-ns  # 'no'
// after: grant log read access
kubectl create rolebinding log-reader --role=view --user=$USER -n test-ns

if err := exec.Command("kubectl", "auth", "can-i", "get", "pods/log").Run(); err != nil { return errors.New("missing RBAC permission to read pod logs; verify logger will fail to start") }

err := r.VerifyAndLog(ctx, out, artifacts)
if err != nil && strings.Contains(err.Error(), "starting logger") {
    return fmt.Errorf("verify logger could not start; check cluster access/RBAC: %v", err)
}
return err

When it happens

Trigger: Calling VerifyAndLog when r.verifier.GetLogger().Start(ctx, out) returns an error — logger initialization failure such as failure to set up the kubernetes log source or write to the output writer.

Common situations: Running `skaffold verify` against a cluster whose log streaming is broken (RBAC denied for pod log reads), unreachable cluster, or a closed output writer in the caller.

Related errors

• starting logger: %w
• getting current cluster context: %w
• getting cluster: %w
• c.Message (pod status condition message)
• unable to lookup minikube executable. Please add it to PATH

AI-assisted analysis of GoogleContainerTools/skaffold@a1189de023 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e37efa0c11b79e53. Report an issue: GitHub.