ahmetb/kubectx · error

write error: %w

Error message

write error: %w

What it means

Wraps the error returned when writing the usage/help text to the output writer inside printUsage. It fires when the io.Writer passed by Run fails during the Fprintf of the usage template (e.g. a broken pipe, closed stdout, or write failure on the destination stream), not because of any problem with the help content itself.

Source

Thrown at cmd/kubectx/help.go:57

  %PROG% -s, --shell <NAME>    : start a shell scoped to context <NAME>
  %PROG% -s, --shell           : interactively select a context to start a shell
  %PROG% -r, --readonly <NAME> : start a read-only shell for context <NAME>
  %PROG% -r, --readonly        : interactively select a context for read-only shell
  %PROG% -c, --current         : show the current context name
  %PROG% -u, --unset           : unset the current context
  %PROG% <NEW_NAME>=<NAME>     : rename context <NAME> to <NEW_NAME>
  %PROG% <NEW_NAME>=.          : rename current-context to <NEW_NAME>
  %PROG% -d <NAME> [<NAME...>] : delete context <NAME> ('.' for current-context)
  %SPAC%                         (this command won't delete the user/cluster entry
  %SPAC%                          referenced by the context entry)
  %PROG% -h, --help            : show this message
  %PROG% -V, --version         : show version`
	help = strings.ReplaceAll(help, "%PROG%", selfName())
	help = strings.ReplaceAll(help, "%SPAC%", strings.Repeat(" ", len(selfName())))

	_, err := fmt.Fprintf(out, "%s\n", help)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("write error: %w", err)
	}
	return nil
}

// selfName guesses how the user invoked the program.
func selfName() string {
	me := filepath.Base(os.Args[0])
	pluginPrefix := "kubectl-"
	if strings.HasPrefix(me, pluginPrefix) {
		return "kubectl " + strings.TrimPrefix(me, pluginPrefix)
	}
	return "kubectx"
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 12ad6fb22e)

Solutions

1. Ensure stdout is open and the downstream consumer (pipe/head) is alive
2. Rerun `kubectx --help` without piping to a short-lived consumer

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at cmd/kubectx/help.go:57 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/08ce3f3ef92ad539. Report an issue: GitHub.