derailed/k9s · error

no describer for %q

Error message

no describer for %q

What it means

Describe.describe resolves the DAO accessor for a GVR and requires it to implement the dao.Describer interface (Describe/ToYAML). When the registered DAO does not, describe requests cannot be served and this error names the GVR.

Source

Thrown at internal/model/describe.go:182

	lines := strings.Split(s, "\n")
	if reflect.DeepEqual(lines, d.lines) {
		return nil
	}
	d.lines = lines
	d.fireResourceChanged(d.lines, d.filter(d.query, d.lines))

	return nil
}

// Describe describes a given resource.
func (d *Describe) describe(ctx context.Context, gvr *client.GVR, path string) (string, error) {
	meta, err := getMeta(ctx, gvr)
	if err != nil {
		return "", err
	}
	desc, ok := meta.DAO.(dao.Describer)
	if !ok {
		return "", fmt.Errorf("no describer for %q", meta.DAO.GVR())
	}
	if desc, ok := meta.DAO.(*dao.Secret); ok {
		desc.SetDecodeData(d.decode)
	}

	return desc.Describe(path)
}

// AddListener adds a new model listener.
func (d *Describe) AddListener(l ResourceViewerListener) {
	d.listeners = append(d.listeners, l)
}

// RemoveListener delete a listener from the list.
func (d *Describe) RemoveListener(l ResourceViewerListener) {
	victim := -1
	for i, lis := range d.listeners {
		if lis == l {

View on GitHub (pinned to 2d3ccc6ba2)

Solutions

1. Check which accessor is registered for the GVR in the DAO factory (metals/accessors registry)
2. Make the custom DAO implement dao.Describer: add Describe(path string) (string, error) (and ToYAML) — usually by embedding dao.Resource
3. For plain CRDs, rely on the generic accessor which provides describers via kubectl describe semantics
4. As a workaround, describe via kubectl describe <resource> <name>

Example fix

// before: custom DAO without describer
type MyCRD struct {
  dao.NonResource
}

// after: embed Resource to gain Describer
type MyCRD struct {
  dao.Resource
}

func describerFor(factory dao.Factory, gvr *client.GVR) (dao.Describer, bool) {
    accessor, err := dao.AccessorFor(factory, gvr)
    if err != nil { return nil, false }
    d, ok := accessor.(dao.Describer)
    return d, ok
}

desc, err := d.describe(ctx, gvr, path)
if err != nil && strings.Contains(err.Error(), "no describer for") {
    return "", fmt.Errorf("%w — resource type has no describe support; use 'kubectl describe' instead", err)
}

When it happens

Trigger: Describing a resource whose DAO accessor is a bare type without Describe/ToYAML methods — typically custom resources routed to a generic accessor that was constructed without describer support, or a plugin/custom DAO registration that forgot the methods.

Common situations: Adding custom resources to k9s views; a custom DAO that embeds dao.Resource but overrides enough to lose the interface; referencing resources an extension API server serves without standard describe semantics.

Related errors

• resource %s is not Loggable
• no nuker for %q
• no describer for %q
• resource %s is not Valuer
• no describer for %q

AI-assisted analysis of derailed/k9s@2d3ccc6ba2 (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/b3d6f78241aa8c8e. Report an issue: GitHub.