ahmetb/kubectx · error

kubeconfig error: %w

Error message

kubeconfig error: %w

What it means

UnsetOp.Run wraps any error from kc.Parse() (kubeconfig.Kubeconfig with DefaultLoader) as "kubeconfig error: %w". Parsing fails when the kubeconfig file is missing, unreadable, or not valid YAML/schema-conformant Kubernetes client config.

Source

Thrown at cmd/kubens/unset.go:33

package main

import (
	"errors"
	"fmt"
	"io"

	"github.com/ahmetb/kubectx/internal/kubeconfig"
	"github.com/ahmetb/kubectx/internal/printer"
)

// UnsetOp indicates intention to remove current namespace preference.
type UnsetOp struct{}

func (_ UnsetOp) Run(_, stderr io.Writer) error {
	kc := new(kubeconfig.Kubeconfig).WithLoader(kubeconfig.DefaultLoader)
	defer kc.Close()
	if err := kc.Parse(); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("kubeconfig error: %w", err)
	}

	ns, err := clearNamespace(kc)
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}
	err = printer.Success(stderr, "Active namespace is \"%s\".", printer.SuccessColor.Sprint(ns))
	return err
}

func clearNamespace(kc *kubeconfig.Kubeconfig) (string, error) {
	ctx, err := kc.GetCurrentContext()
	if err != nil {
		return "", fmt.Errorf("failed to get current context: %w", err)
	}
	ns := "default"
	if ctx == "" {
		return "", errors.New("current-context is not set")

View on GitHub (pinned to 12ad6fb22e)

Solutions

1. Run kubectl config view --raw to locate and inspect the invalid kubeconfig file.
2. Validate/fix YAML syntax (tabs vs spaces, bad indentation) or restore the file from backup.
3. Check the KUBECONFIG environment variable points to the intended, existing file path.
4. Recreate the file: kubectl config set-cluster/set-context or regenerate via your cloud provider CLI.

// Go: validate the kubeconfig parses before running unset
kc := new(kubeconfig.Kubeconfig).WithLoader(kubeconfig.DefaultLoader)
if err := kc.Parse(); err != nil {
	return fmt.Errorf("kubeconfig invalid, run 'kubectl config view' to inspect: %w", err)
}

if err := unsetOp.Run(os.Args, os.Stderr); err != nil {
	if strings.HasPrefix(err.Error(), "kubeconfig error:") {
		fmt.Fprintln(os.Stderr, "Fix or restore your kubeconfig (check KUBECONFIG path and YAML syntax).")
	}
	return err
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling the kubens unset command (UnsetOp.Run) when DefaultLoader cannot locate or read KUBECONFIG / ~/.kube/config, or the file contains malformed YAML or fields violating the kubeconfig schema.

Common situations: KUBECONFIG env var pointing to a nonexistent or corrupt file; hand-edited kubeconfig with wrong indentation or tabs; a partial/truncated download; mixing files in KUBECONFIG where one is invalid.

Related errors

• kubeconfig error: %w
• kubeconfig error: %w
• file %d: %w
• file %d lookup: %w
• failed to close encoder for file %d: %w

AI-assisted analysis of ahmetb/kubectx@12ad6fb22e (2026-09-02). Data as JSON: /api/errors/5f332f0cee917b67. Report an issue: GitHub.