GoogleContainerTools/skaffold · error

target version %v is invalid

Error message

target version %v is invalid

What it means

Fires in IsCompatibleWith when the target version passed for config upgrade/migration matches neither the V1 nor the V2 version pattern — the requested upgrade destination is not a recognized schema version.

Source

Thrown at pkg/skaffold/schema/versions.go:371

	}
	if len(v1Track) > 0 {
		return latestV1.Version, nil
	}
	if len(v2Track) > 0 {
		return latest.Version, nil
	}
	return "", fmt.Errorf("unable to find a valid API Schema version")
}

// IsCompatibleWith checks if the cfgs versions can be upgraded to toVersion.
func IsCompatibleWith(cfgs []util.VersionedConfig, toVersion string) (bool, error) {
	var pattern *regexp.Regexp
	if matched := V1Pattern.MatchString(toVersion); matched {
		pattern = V1Pattern
	} else if matched := V2Pattern.MatchString(toVersion); matched {
		pattern = V2Pattern
	} else {
		return false, fmt.Errorf("target version %v is invalid", toVersion)
	}
	var badVersions []string
	for _, cfg := range cfgs {
		curVersion := cfg.GetVersion()
		if matched := pattern.MatchString(curVersion); !matched {
			badVersions = append(badVersions, curVersion)
		}
	}
	if len(badVersions) > 0 {
		return false, fmt.Errorf(
			"the following versions are incompatible with target version %v. upgrade aborted",
			badVersions)
	}
	return true, nil
}

// UpgradeTo upgrades the given configs to toVersion.
func UpgradeTo(configs []util.VersionedConfig, toVersion string) ([]util.VersionedConfig, error) {

View on GitHub (pinned to a1189de023)

Solutions

1. Pass a valid target apiVersion supported by your skaffold binary
2. Run `skaffold fix` without an explicit version to upgrade to the latest
3. Check the docs for the exact version string format (e.g. skaffold/v4beta11)

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at pkg/skaffold/schema/versions.go:371 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/1b5b562133170f8f. Report an issue: GitHub.