argoproj/argo-workflows · error

failed to automatically create bucket %s when it's not prese

Error message

failed to automatically create bucket %s when it's not present: %w

What it means

Raised in Save when createBucketIfNotPresent is true, the bucket does not exist, and osscli.CreateBucket fails to create it. Commonly a permissions problem (RAM user lacks oss:PutBucket), a bucket-name conflict (name globally taken in the region or owned by another account), or invalid bucket configuration (region, name characters, storage class).

Source

Thrown at workflow/artifacts/oss/oss.go:246

			isDir, err := file.IsDirectory(path)
			if err != nil {
				logger.WithError(err).Warn(ctx, "Failed to test if path is a directory")
				return false, nil
			}
			bucketName := outputArtifact.OSS.Bucket
			err = setBucketLogging(osscli, bucketName)
			if err != nil {
				return !isTransientOSSErr(ctx, err), err
			}
			if outputArtifact.OSS.CreateBucketIfNotPresent {
				exists, existsErr := osscli.IsBucketExist(bucketName)
				if existsErr != nil {
					return !isTransientOSSErr(ctx, existsErr), fmt.Errorf("failed to check if bucket %s exists: %w", bucketName, existsErr)
				}
				if !exists {
					err = osscli.CreateBucket(bucketName)
					if err != nil {
						return !isTransientOSSErr(ctx, err), fmt.Errorf("failed to automatically create bucket %s when it's not present: %w", bucketName, err)
					}
				}
			}
			bucket, err := osscli.Bucket(bucketName)
			if err != nil {
				return !isTransientOSSErr(ctx, err), err
			}
			objectName := outputArtifact.OSS.Key
			if outputArtifact.OSS.LifecycleRule != nil {
				err = setBucketLifecycleRule(osscli, outputArtifact.OSS)
				if err != nil {
					return !isTransientOSSErr(ctx, err), err
				}
			}
			if isDir {
				if err = putDirectory(ctx, bucket, objectName, path); err != nil {
					logger.WithError(err).Warn(ctx, "failed to put directory")
					return !isTransientOSSErr(ctx, err), err

View on GitHub (pinned to 35bff19146)

Solutions

1. Inspect the wrapped OSS error code: BucketAlreadyExists means pick a new globally-unique bucket name; AccessDenied means grant oss:PutBucket to the RAM user/role.
2. Pre-create the bucket with ossutil mb or the console and set createBucketIfNotPresent: false.
3. Verify the endpoint/region matches the intended bucket location (creationRegion).
4. Check account bucket quota (default 100 per region) if the error is TooManyBuckets.
5. Validate the bucket name (3-63 chars, lowercase letters/numbers/hyphens).

Example fix

// before (workflow spec)
oss:
  bucket: my-bucket
  createBucketIfNotPresent: true
// after (pre-create outside the workflow)
# ossutil mb oss://my-argo-artifacts-bucket-2026 --region oss-cn-hangzhou
oss:
  bucket: my-argo-artifacts-bucket-2026
  createBucketIfNotPresent: false

// pre-create and verify before workflows run
cli, _ := oss.New(endpoint, ak, sk)
if ok, _ := cli.IsBucketExist(bucketName); !ok {
	if err := cli.CreateBucket(bucketName); err != nil {
		panic(fmt.Sprintf("create %s now, not during workflow: %v", bucketName, err))
	}
}

func isBucketNameTaken(err error) bool {
	se, ok := err.(oss.ServiceError)
	return ok && (se.Code == "BucketAlreadyExists" || se.Code == "BucketAlreadyOwnedByYou")
}

if err := driver.Save(ctx, path, artifact); err != nil {
	if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "failed to automatically create bucket") {
		var se oss.ServiceError
		if errors.As(err, &se) && (se.Code == "BucketAlreadyExists" || se.Code == "AccessDenied") {
			// pick unique name or grant oss:PutBucket — retries won't help
		}
	}
}

When it happens

Trigger: Save of an output artifact with createBucketIfNotPresent: true; IsBucketExist returned false; CreateBucket returns an error such as AccessDenied, BucketAlreadyExists, TooManyBuckets, or InvalidBucketName.

Common situations: Bucket name already registered by another Aliyun account (OSS names are globally unique per region); RAM policy not updated to allow PutBucket; exceeding the account's bucket quota; region mismatch between endpoint and desired bucket location.

Related errors

• failed to check if bucket %s exists: %w
• mkdir %s error: %w
• failed to test if %s/%s is a directory: %w
• failed get directory: %w
• failed to configure bucket logging: %w

AI-assisted analysis of argoproj/argo-workflows@35bff19146 (2026-09-03). Data as JSON: /api/errors/8fff844701d65ada. Report an issue: GitHub.