GoogleContainerTools/skaffold · error

unexpected artifact type %q: %s

Error message

unexpected artifact type %q:
%s

What it means

sourceDependenciesForArtifact switches over the artifact type (docker, kaniko, bazel, jib, buildpacks, ko). If none matches — the artifact has no recognized type set, or a type Skaffold's dependency resolution doesn't support — it throws this error including the artifact type string and a formatted dump of the artifact.

Source

Thrown at pkg/skaffold/graph/dependencies.go:162

		paths, err = docker.GetDependencies(ctx, docker.NewBuildConfig(kaniko.GetContext(a.KanikoArtifact, a.Workspace), a.ImageName, a.KanikoArtifact.DockerfilePath, args), cfg)

	case a.BazelArtifact != nil:
		paths, err = bazel.GetDependencies(ctx, a.Workspace, a.BazelArtifact)

	case a.JibArtifact != nil:
		paths, err = jib.GetDependencies(ctx, a.Workspace, a.JibArtifact)

	case a.CustomArtifact != nil:
		paths, err = custom.GetDependencies(ctx, a.Workspace, a.ImageName, a.CustomArtifact, cfg)

	case a.BuildpackArtifact != nil:
		paths, err = buildpacks.GetDependencies(ctx, a.Workspace, a.BuildpackArtifact)

	case a.KoArtifact != nil:
		paths, err = ko.GetDependencies(ctx, a.Workspace, a.KoArtifact)

	default:
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("unexpected artifact type %q:\n%s", misc.ArtifactType(a), misc.FormatArtifact(a))
	}

	if err != nil {
		return nil, err
	}

	return util.AbsolutePaths(a.Workspace, paths), nil
}

View on GitHub (pinned to a1189de023)

Solutions

1. Check skaffold.yaml for an artifact entry missing its build type definition (empty or malformed build stanza).
2. If using a custom builder, note that source-dependency computation doesn't support it — define watch/file dependencies explicitly or switch to a supported builder.
3. When calling the resolver programmatically, populate one of the typed artifact fields (e.g. DockerArtifact) before invoking.
4. Read the %q artifact type and format dump in the message to identify which artifact was untyped.

func hasSupportedArtifactType(a *latest.Artifact) bool {
	return a != nil && (a.DockerArtifact != nil || a.KanikoArtifact != nil ||
		a.BazelArtifact != nil || a.JibArtifact != nil ||
		a.BuildpackArtifact != nil || a.KoArtifact != nil)
}

When it happens

Trigger: An Artifact struct reaches sourceDependenciesForArtifact with all of DockerArtifact/KanikoArtifact/BazelArtifact/JibArtifact/BuildpackArtifact/KoArtifact nil — e.g. a custom resolver handing over an untyped artifact, a custom builder plugin artifact, or an artifact constructed programmatically without setting its type.

Common situations: Using custom build types (e.g. `customArtifact` or cluster-only artifacts) in a context that computes source dependencies; programmatic use of the resolver API with hand-built Artifact structs; skaffold.yaml parsing produced an empty artifact definition.

Related errors

• image %q context %q is not a directory
• creating tagger: %w
• creating tester: %w
• bucket name is empty
• INSPECT_PROFILE_NOT_FOUND_ERR

AI-assisted analysis of GoogleContainerTools/skaffold@a1189de023 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/739c2d5d296ec6c7. Report an issue: GitHub.