ahmetb/kubectx · error

HOME or USERPROFILE environment variable not set

Error message

HOME or USERPROFILE environment variable not set

What it means

Guard error in kubeconfigPaths: the KUBECONFIG env var is unset and cmdutil.HomeDir() returned an empty string because neither HOME nor USERPROFILE is set, so the default kubeconfig path (~/.kube/config) cannot be derived. The loader has no files to open.

Source

Thrown at internal/kubeconfig/kubeconfigloader.go:82

	if err := kf.Truncate(0); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("failed to truncate file: %w", err)
	}
	if _, err := kf.Seek(0, 0); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("failed to seek in file: %w", err)
	}
	return nil
}

func kubeconfigPaths() ([]string, error) {
	// KUBECONFIG env var
	if v := os.Getenv("KUBECONFIG"); v != "" {
		return filepath.SplitList(v), nil
	}

	// default path
	home := cmdutil.HomeDir()
	if home == "" {
		return nil, errors.New("HOME or USERPROFILE environment variable not set")
	}
	return []string{filepath.Join(home, ".kube", "config")}, nil
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 12ad6fb22e)

Solutions

1. Set KUBECONFIG to the kubeconfig path explicitly
2. Set the HOME (or USERPROFILE) environment variable so ~/.kube/config can be resolved

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at internal/kubeconfig/kubeconfigloader.go:82 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/cbfcd2bb74f63076. Report an issue: GitHub.