ahmetb/kubectx · error

failed to rewrite kubeconfig: %w

Error message

failed to rewrite kubeconfig: %w

What it means

Wrapper error in transformKubeconfig: proxy.RewriteKubeconfig failed to rewrite the kubeconfig to point kubectl at the local readonly proxy (kyaml transformation failure on the kubeconfig data). The proxy is shut down and temp file removed; error wrapped with %w.

Source

Thrown at cmd/kubectx/readonly_shell.go:78

			}
			origFile.Close()

			// Start the readonly proxy.
			p, err := proxy.Start(proxy.Config{
				KubeconfigPath: origPath,
				ContextName:    op.Target,
			})
			if err != nil {
				os.Remove(origPath)
				return nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to start readonly proxy: %w", err)
			}

			// Rewrite kubeconfig to point to the proxy.
			rewritten, err := proxy.RewriteKubeconfig(data, p.Addr())
			if err != nil {
				p.Shutdown(context.Background())
				os.Remove(origPath)
				return nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to rewrite kubeconfig: %w", err)
			}

			time.Sleep(10 * time.Millisecond)

			cleanup := func() {
				p.Shutdown(context.Background())
				os.Remove(origPath)
			}
			return rewritten, cleanup, nil
		},
	}
	return s.run(stderr)
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 12ad6fb22e)

Solutions

1. Inspect the wrapped cause for kubeconfig YAML structure problems
2. Validate the kubeconfig, then retry the readonly shell

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at cmd/kubectx/readonly_shell.go:78 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/117d6138a7629d69. Report an issue: GitHub.