argoproj/argo-workflows · error

failed to set key for artifact %s: %w

Error message

failed to set key for artifact %s: %w

What it means

ApplyOverridesToTemplateArtifacts rewrites artifact keys on template artifacts being submitted. This error wraps the failure of ArtifactLocation.SetKey for a matched artifact. SetKey delegates to the concrete artifact type; types like Git and Raw do not support key rewriting and return 'key unsupported', and HTTP/Artifactory URL parsing failures also surface here.

Source

Thrown at workflow/util/util.go:373

// ApplyOverridesToTemplateArtifacts returns a deep copy of each artifact in templateArtifacts
// whose name has an entry in overrides, with its key set to the override value. Artifacts
// without a matching override are omitted from the result. Every override must match a
// template artifact; an override naming an unknown artifact is an error rather than a silent
// no-op, so a typo'd or stale override does not run the workflow with default settings after
// the caller was told the upload succeeded. This is a pure function: it does not resolve
// artifact repositories or mutate its inputs.
func ApplyOverridesToTemplateArtifacts(templateArtifacts []wfv1.Artifact, overrides map[string]string) ([]wfv1.Artifact, error) {
	applied := make([]wfv1.Artifact, 0, len(overrides))
	consumed := make(map[string]bool, len(overrides))
	for _, tmplArt := range templateArtifacts {
		newKey, ok := overrides[tmplArt.Name]
		if !ok {
			continue
		}
		consumed[tmplArt.Name] = true
		artCopy := tmplArt.DeepCopy()
		if err := artCopy.SetKey(newKey); err != nil {
			return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to set key for artifact %s: %w", tmplArt.Name, err)
		}
		applied = append(applied, *artCopy)
	}
	if err := unmatchedOverridesError(overrides, consumed); err != nil {
		return nil, err
	}
	return applied, nil
}

// unmatchedOverridesError names any override whose artifact name matched no artifact, so a
// typo'd or stale override surfaces as an error instead of being silently dropped. Returns
// nil when every override was consumed.
func unmatchedOverridesError(overrides map[string]string, consumed map[string]bool) error {
	unmatched := make([]string, 0)
	for name := range overrides {
		if !consumed[name] {
			unmatched = append(unmatched, name)
		}

View on GitHub (pinned to 35bff19146)

Solutions

1. Remove the override for that artifact, or change the artifact's source type to a key-addressed backend (s3, gcs, oss, azure, hdfs, http, artifactory, plugin).
2. For git artifacts, change the revision via the git 'revision' field in the template instead of an artifact key override.
3. For raw artifacts, supply the inline content directly rather than overriding a key.
4. If HTTP/Artifactory, verify the URL is a valid absolute URL so url.Parse succeeds.

Example fix

// before
artifacts:
  - name: src
    git:
      repo: https://github.com/x/y
// after (key-addressed backend that supports SetKey)
artifacts:
  - name: src
    s3:
      key: path/in/bucket

for _, art := range templateArtifacts {
	if overrides[art.Name] == "" {
		continue
	}
	if art.HasLocation() && (art.Git != nil || art.Raw != nil) {
		return fmt.Errorf("artifact %q (%s) does not support key overrides", art.Name, art.ArtifactLocation.GetType())
	}
}

func supportsSetKey(a wfv1.Artifact) bool {
	return a.S3 != nil || a.GCS != nil || a.OSS != nil || a.Azure != nil ||
		a.HDFS != nil || a.HTTP != nil || a.Artifactory != nil || a.Plugin != nil
}

applied, err := util.ApplyOverridesToTemplateArtifacts(tmplArts, overrides)
if err != nil {
	var keyErr *fmt.Errorf // inspect wrapped 'key unsupported' error
	return fmt.Errorf("artifact override rejected: %w", err)
}

When it happens

Trigger: Submitting a workflow whose template artifact has a GitArtifact or RawArtifact source and passing an --artifact override (NAME=KEY) for it; or an HTTP/Artifactory artifact whose URL fails url.Parse.

Common situations: Users assuming every artifact type supports key overriding — git repos and raw inline artifacts cannot have their key set; only S3, GCS, OSS, Azure, HDFS, HTTP, Artifactory, and plugin artifacts can.

Related errors

• failed to set key for artifact %s in stored spec: %w
• set type not supported for type: %v
• artifact override(s) matched no artifact: %s
• no artifact logs are available
• Artifact driver connection validation failed: %v

AI-assisted analysis of argoproj/argo-workflows@35bff19146 (2026-09-03). Data as JSON: /api/errors/67a89c6bf9585603. Report an issue: GitHub.