cannot supply extra formatting options to the pretty templat

Error message

cannot supply extra formatting options to the pretty template

What it means

Raised by `docker service inspect` when the resolved format string starts with "pretty" but is not exactly "pretty". The pretty template is a fixed built-in and cannot take extra Go-template directives. Note the format may come not only from --format but also from the `serviceInspectFormat` setting in ~/.docker/config.json.

Source

Thrown at cli/command/service/inspect.go:88

		res, err := apiClient.NetworkInspect(ctx, ref, client.NetworkInspectOptions{Scope: "swarm"})
		if err == nil || !errdefs.IsNotFound(err) {
			return res.Network, res.Raw, err
		}
		return nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("no such network: %s", ref)
	}

	f := opts.format
	if len(f) == 0 {
		f = "raw"
		if len(dockerCLI.ConfigFile().ServiceInspectFormat) > 0 {
			f = dockerCLI.ConfigFile().ServiceInspectFormat
		}
	}

	// check if the user is trying to apply a template to the pretty format, which
	// is not supported
	if strings.HasPrefix(f, "pretty") && f != "pretty" {
		return errors.New("cannot supply extra formatting options to the pretty template")
	}

	serviceCtx := formatter.Context{
		Output: dockerCLI.Out(),
		Format: newFormat(f),
	}

	if err := inspectFormatWrite(serviceCtx, opts.refs, getRef, getNetwork); err != nil {
		return cli.StatusError{StatusCode: 1, Status: err.Error()}
	}
	return nil
}

View on GitHub (pinned to e9452d6e78)

Solutions

Use exactly `--format pretty` or the --pretty flag.
For custom fields, use a pure Go template without the 'pretty' prefix.
If the error occurs without --format, fix or remove `serviceInspectFormat` in ~/.docker/config.json.

Example fix

// before (~/.docker/config.json)
{"serviceInspectFormat": "pretty {{.ID}}"}
// after
{"serviceInspectFormat": "pretty"}

When it happens

Trigger: `docker service inspect --format 'pretty {{.ID}}' svc`, or a ~/.docker/config.json containing `"serviceInspectFormat": "pretty ..."` with trailing content, since that config value is used when --format is omitted.

Common situations: Users appending fields to the pretty template, or a malformed serviceInspectFormat entry in the docker client config causing every plain `docker service inspect` to fail unexpectedly.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of docker/cli@e9452d6e78 (2026-08-01). Data as JSON: /data/errors/f3035d87c04e6848.json. Report an issue: GitHub.