derailed/k9s · error

no connection available

Error message

no connection available

What it means

xrayCmd needs the alias resolver (c.alias) to map its argument to a GVR, but c.alias is nil — the view has no active cluster connection. The alias map is built from the live cluster's discovery/RESTMapper, so it exists only once a connection is established.

Source

Thrown at internal/view/command.go:152

	return false
}

func (c *Command) aliasCmd(p *cmd.Interpreter, pushCmd bool) error {
	filter, _ := p.FilterArg()

	v := NewAlias(client.AliGVR)
	v.SetFilter(filter, true)

	return c.exec(p, client.AliGVR, v, false, pushCmd)
}

func (c *Command) xrayCmd(p *cmd.Interpreter, pushCmd bool) error {
	arg, cns, ok := p.XrayArgs()
	if !ok {
		return errors.New("invalid command. use `xray xxx`")
	}
	if c.alias == nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("no connection available")
	}
	gvr, ok := c.alias.Resolve(cmd.NewInterpreter(arg))
	if !ok {
		return fmt.Errorf("invalid resource name: %q", arg)
	}
	if !allowedXRay(gvr) {
		return fmt.Errorf("unsupported resource %q", arg)
	}
	ns := c.app.Config.ActiveNamespace()
	if cns != "" {
		ns = cns
	}
	if err := c.app.Config.SetActiveNamespace(client.CleanseNamespace(ns)); err != nil {
		return err
	}
	if err := c.app.switchNS(ns); err != nil {
		return err
	}

View on GitHub (pinned to 2d3ccc6ba2)

Solutions

1. Establish a connection first: use `context <name>` to select a working kube context and wait for the dashboard.
2. Validate kubectl connectivity out-of-band: kubectl get --raw /api on the intended context.
3. Re-enter the xray command once the cluster view has loaded (alias initialized).
4. If it persists on a healthy cluster, check that the kubeconfig context/cluster entries parse (KUBECONFIG env, yaml validity).

if c.alias == nil {
    return fmt.Errorf("not connected: select a context first (context <name>)")
}
gvr, ok := c.alias.Resolve(cmd.NewInterpreter(arg))

func (c *Command) connected() bool { return c.alias != nil }

if err := c.xrayCmd(p, push); err != nil {
    if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "no connection") {
    c.app.Flash().Err(err) // guide user to connect; do not auto-retry
    }
}

When it happens

Trigger: Running `xray <resource>` before any cluster context is active, after the connection dropped (apiserver restart, VPN loss, token expiry), or in embedded/headless mode where no factory connection was created.

Common situations: Startup race: issuing xray immediately at app start before the context loads; kubeconfig pointing at an unreachable cluster; expired credentials so initialization failed silently leaving alias nil.

Related errors

• ACCESS -- No API server connection
• dialLogs - no connection to dial
• no connection to dial
• no connection to cached dial
• no active context available

AI-assisted analysis of derailed/k9s@2d3ccc6ba2 (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/d7e7a5af88e903b2. Report an issue: GitHub.