ahmetb/kubectx · error

failed to get context names: %w

Error message

failed to get context names: %w

What it means

Wrapper error in InteractiveSwitchOp.Run: kc.ContextNames() failed while extracting context names from the parsed kubeconfig (structural problem in the contexts data). Cause preserved via %w; the fzf menu cannot be built.

Source

Thrown at cmd/kubectx/fzf.go:53

func (op InteractiveSwitchOp) Run(_, stderr io.Writer) error {
	if err := checkIsolatedMode(); err != nil {
		return err
	}
	// parse kubeconfig just to see if it can be loaded
	kc := new(kubeconfig.Kubeconfig).WithLoader(kubeconfig.DefaultLoader)
	defer kc.Close()
	if err := kc.Parse(); err != nil {
		if cmdutil.IsNotFoundErr(err) {
			printer.Warning(stderr, "kubeconfig file not found")
			return nil
		}
		return fmt.Errorf("kubeconfig error: %w", err)
	}

	ctxNames, err := kc.ContextNames()
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("failed to get context names: %w", err)
	}
	if len(ctxNames) == 0 {
		return errors.New("no contexts found in the kubeconfig file")
	}

	var in bytes.Buffer
	if err := formatContextList(kc, &in); err != nil {
		return err
	}

	cmd := exec.Command("fzf", "--ansi", "--no-preview")
	var out bytes.Buffer
	cmd.Stdin = &in
	cmd.Stderr = stderr
	cmd.Stdout = &out

	cmd.Env = append(os.Environ(),
		fmt.Sprintf("%s=1", env.EnvForceColor))

View on GitHub (pinned to 12ad6fb22e)

Solutions

1. Inspect the wrapped cause for kubeconfig structure errors
2. Repair the 'contexts' section, then retry the interactive switch

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at cmd/kubectx/fzf.go:53 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of ahmetb/kubectx@12ad6fb22e (2026-09-02). Data as JSON: /api/errors/f84de2bf97f42863. Report an issue: GitHub.