ahmetb/kubectx · error

failed to get current context for merge: %w

Error message

failed to get current context for merge: %w

What it means

During Bytes' multi-file merge, GetCurrentContext failed while picking the first non-empty current-context for the merged output. Same failure mode as GetCurrentContext itself: a malformed current-context field in one of the files.

Source

Thrown at internal/kubeconfig/kubeconfig.go:148

	merged := k.files[0].config.Copy()

	// Merge contexts, clusters, and users from all files (first wins for duplicates).
	for _, key := range []string{"contexts", "clusters", "users"} {
		mergedSeq, err := mergeSequences(k.files, key)
		if err != nil {
			return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to merge %s: %w", key, err)
		}
		if mergedSeq != nil {
			if err := merged.PipeE(yaml.SetField(key, mergedSeq)); err != nil {
				return nil, err
			}
		}
	}

	// Use the first non-empty current-context.
	cur, err := k.GetCurrentContext()
	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to get current context for merge: %w", err)
	}
	if cur != "" {
		if err := merged.PipeE(yaml.SetField("current-context", yaml.NewScalarRNode(cur))); err != nil {
			return nil, err
		}
	}

	str, err := merged.String()
	if err != nil {
		return nil, err
	}
	return []byte(str), nil
}

// mergeSequences merges a named sequence field (e.g. "contexts") across multiple files.
// The first occurrence of each entry (by "name" key) wins.
// Files where the field is missing or not a sequence are silently skipped (matching kubectl merge behavior).
func mergeSequences(files []fileEntry, field string) (*yaml.RNode, error) {

View on GitHub (pinned to 12ad6fb22e)

Solutions

1. Inspect current-context in each kubeconfig file for non-scalar values
2. Fix or remove the malformed field
3. Retry the operation that needed the merged config

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at internal/kubeconfig/kubeconfig.go:148 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/2e96fec3ad1f8aa4. Report an issue: GitHub.