GoogleContainerTools/skaffold · error

unable to parse config: %w

Error message

unable to parse config: %w

What it means

Fires in parseConfig when strict YAML decoding (KnownFields enabled) of the skaffold.yaml config fails — the file contains unknown fields, wrong types, or malformed YAML relative to the schema version being tried. Wraps the underlying decoder error.

Source

Thrown at pkg/skaffold/schema/versions.go:329

	if err != nil {
		return nil, err
	}
	return out.Bytes(), nil
}

func parseConfig(buf []byte, factories []func() util.VersionedConfig) ([]util.VersionedConfig, error) {
	b := bytes.NewReader(buf)
	decoder := yaml.NewDecoder(b)
	decoder.KnownFields(true)
	var cfgs []util.VersionedConfig
	for index := 0; index < len(factories); index++ {
		cfg := factories[index]()
		err := decoder.Decode(cfg)
		if err == io.EOF {
			break
		}
		if err != nil {
			return nil, fmt.Errorf("unable to parse config: %w", err)
		}
		cfgs = append(cfgs, cfg)
	}
	return cfgs, nil
}

// getLatestFromCompatibilityCheck makes sure the schema versions in SchemaVersionsV1 and SchemaVersionsV2 are not used
// together and returns the latest version where this VersionedConfig slice belongs to.
func getLatestFromCompatibilityCheck(cfgs []util.VersionedConfig) (string, error) {
	var v1Track, v2Track []string
	for _, cfg := range cfgs {
		curVersion := cfg.GetVersion()
		if matched := V1Pattern.MatchString(curVersion); matched {
			v1Track = append(v1Track, curVersion)
		} else if matched := V2Pattern.MatchString(curVersion); matched {
			v2Track = append(v2Track, curVersion)
		} else {
			return "", fmt.Errorf("unknown apiVersion %v", curVersion)

View on GitHub (pinned to a1189de023)

Solutions

1. Fix the reported YAML/type errors in skaffold.yaml (decoder messages identify the field and line)
2. Remove or rename fields not present in your config's apiVersion schema
3. Upgrade the config's apiVersion (skaffold fix) or upgrade skaffold if the field requires a newer schema

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at pkg/skaffold/schema/versions.go:329 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

Understand the failure class

• Parsing and encoding errors: unexpected token, malformed input — why parsers reject input and how to find the real culprit.

AI-assisted analysis of GoogleContainerTools/skaffold@a1189de023 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/650cb5dd3604e983. Report an issue: GitHub.