argoproj/argo-workflows · error

in %s: %w

Error message

in %s: %w

What it means

During linting, lintData iterates every parsed object and validates it. If validation of a specific object fails, the error is collected as `in <objectName>: <cause>` in the Result's error list, attributing the failure to the named workload object (Workflow, CronWorkflow, WorkflowTemplate, etc.). This is the aggregation format for genuine spec errors found by `argo lint`.

Source

Thrown at cmd/argo/lint/lint.go:223

		case *wfv1.WorkflowTemplate:
			objName = getObjectName(wf.WorkflowTemplateKind, v, i)
			if opts.ServiceClients.WorkflowTemplatesClient == nil {
				logger.Debug(ctx, "ignoring object, not in lint options kinds")
				continue
			}
			res.Linted = true
			if err == nil {
				_, err = opts.ServiceClients.WorkflowTemplatesClient.LintWorkflowTemplate(
					ctx,
					&workflowtemplatepkg.WorkflowTemplateLintRequest{Namespace: namespace, Template: v},
				)
			}
		default:
			continue // silently ignore unknown kinds
		}

		if err != nil {
			res.Errs = append(res.Errs, fmt.Errorf("in %s: %w", objName, err))
		}
	}

	return res
}

func (l *Results) Msg() string {
	return l.msg
}

// evaluate must be called before checking the value of l.Success and l.String()
func (l *Results) evaluate() *Results {
	success := true
	l.anythingLinted = false

	for _, r := range l.Results {
		if !r.Linted {
			continue

View on GitHub (pinned to 35bff19146)

Solutions

1. Read the wrapped cause after `in <name>:` — it names the exact spec problem and field.
2. Fix the YAML at that object; run `argo lint <file>` again until clean.
3. Use `--strict` in CI to catch deprecated/misused fields early.
4. Check template references exist (template names, dag task dependencies, artifact names).

argo lint --strict my-workflow.yaml  # run in CI before submit

for _, res := range results.Results {
    for _, e := range res.Errs {
        var objErr error
        if errors.As(e, &objErr) { log.Printf("%s: %v", res.File, e) } // 'in <obj>:' prefix names the offending object
    }
}
if !results.Success { os.Exit(1) }

When it happens

Trigger: Any invalid spec in a linted file: missing required fields, invalid template references, unknown kind fields, failing strict-mode checks; a YAML doc that parses to a known kind but fails validation.

Common situations: CI pipelines linting manifests before submit; hand-edited YAML with typos in template names; references to templates/dag tasks that don't exist; strict fields flagged only with --strict.

Related errors

• CodeBadRequest
• [%d].name '%s' is not unique
• malformed workflow template parameter "%s": valueFrom is nil
• cron schedules must consist of 5 values only
• ${e.Usage()}

AI-assisted analysis of argoproj/argo-workflows@35bff19146 (2026-09-03). Data as JSON: /api/errors/697ffe2e1e487bee. Report an issue: GitHub.