GoogleContainerTools/skaffold · error

unable to parse path %q: %w

Error message

unable to parse path %q: %w

What it means

kustomizeDependencies expands each kustomize path as an env-template via util.ExpandEnvTemplate before resolving it. If template expansion fails (bad env var syntax, unset required variable), the path is reported with 'unable to parse path %q'. It guards against paths that are not valid after template processing.

Source

Thrown at pkg/skaffold/render/generate/generate.go:240

	}
	// kustomize deps
	if g.config.Kustomize != nil {
		kDeps, err := kustomizeDependencies(g.workingDir, g.config.Kustomize.Paths)
		if err != nil {
			return nil, err
		}
		deps = append(deps, kDeps...)
	}

	return deps, nil
}

func kustomizeDependencies(workdir string, paths []string) ([]string, error) {
	deps := stringset.New()
	for _, kustomizePath := range paths {
		expandedKustomizePath, err := util.ExpandEnvTemplate(kustomizePath, nil)
		if err != nil {
			return nil, fmt.Errorf("unable to parse path %q: %w", kustomizePath, err)
		}

		if !filepath.IsAbs(expandedKustomizePath) {
			expandedKustomizePath = filepath.Join(workdir, expandedKustomizePath)
		}
		depsForKustomization, err := DependenciesForKustomization(expandedKustomizePath)
		if err != nil {
			return nil, sErrors.NewError(err,
				&proto.ActionableErr{
					Message: err.Error(),
					ErrCode: proto.StatusCode_DEPLOY_KUSTOMIZE_USER_ERR,
				})
		}
		deps.Insert(depsForKustomization...)
	}
	return deps.ToList(), nil
}

View on GitHub (pinned to a1189de023)

Solutions

1. Fix the template syntax in the path (valid form: {{.VAR_NAME}})
2. Export the referenced environment variable before running skaffold
3. Remove template syntax if no substitution is needed — use a plain path
4. Test expansion: echo the intended path with the same env vars set

Example fix

// before
paths:
  - {{DEPLOY_DIR}}/kustomize
// after
paths:
  - "{{.DEPLOY_DIR}}/kustomize"  # with DEPLOY_DIR exported

test -n "${DEPLOY_DIR:?DEPLOY_DIR must be set}"  # every var used in a {{.VAR}} path must be exported

deps, err := ManifestDeps(ctx)
if err != nil && strings.Contains(err.Error(), "unable to parse path") {
    // log the quoted path, fix template syntax or export the missing env var
}

When it happens

Trigger: A kustomize path in render generate (e.g. kustomize paths or .manifests.generate kustomize entries) contains env-template syntax like {{.MY_VAR}} with invalid syntax or a failing expansion, called from ManifestDeps via kustomizeDependencies.

Common situations: Referencing an environment variable that isn't set in the current shell/CI; malformed Go-template syntax ({{VAR}} missing the dot, unbalanced braces); special characters in paths confusing the template parser.

Understand the failure class

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

Related errors

• unable to parse path %q: %w
• can't merge defaultNamespace property from kustomize into ku
• can't merge disableValidation property from kustomize into k
• executing template: %w
• rendering manifests: %w

AI-assisted analysis of GoogleContainerTools/skaffold@a1189de023 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/cdf86e7aad14012a. Report an issue: GitHub.