What causes "context %q: %w" in docker/cli?

Run `docker context ls` to confirm the exact context name exists.

context

Error message

context %q: %w

What it means

Top-level wrapper returned by ContextStore.GetMetadata() for any failure looking up a context by name. It wraps the underlying getByID error — most often the not-found error (504) but also any parse or I/O failure — and includes the context name for diagnostics.

Solutions

Run `docker context ls` to confirm the exact context name exists.
If the inner error is 'context not found', create or switch to an existing context (`docker context use default`).
If the inner error is a parse/IO error, inspect meta.json on disk or recreate the context.

Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Try / catch

meta, err := store.GetMetadata(name)
if err != nil {
    // GetMetadata wraps the underlying cause with the context name.
    if errors.Is(err, errdefs.ErrNotFound) {
        // missing context — create or fall back
    }
    return err
}

Prevention

List existing contexts before assuming a name exists.
Unwrap the error (errors.Is) to distinguish not-found from corruption rather than string-matching.
Validate the name with ValidateContextName before lookup to rule out typos/format errors.

When it happens

Trigger: Calling store.GetMetadata(name) where name has no directory (wraps not-found), or where the context's meta.json is corrupt/unreadable (wraps a parse/IO error).

Common situations: Typo in context name; referencing a context after `docker context rm`; corrupted context directory; shell completion or scripts probing arbitrary names.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of docker/cli@4f84911bfe (2026-08-07). Data as JSON: /api/errors/ac472f636720f874. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at cli/context/store/metadatastore.go:66

	}
	if getter == nil {
		var res map[string]any
		if err := json.Unmarshal(payload, &res); err != nil {
			return nil, err
		}
		return res, nil
	}
	typed := getter()
	if err := json.Unmarshal(payload, typed); err != nil {
		return nil, err
	}
	return reflect.ValueOf(typed).Elem().Interface(), nil
}

func (s *metadataStore) get(name string) (Metadata, error) {
	m, err := s.getByID(contextdirOf(name))
	if err != nil {
		return m, fmt.Errorf("context %q: %w", name, err)
	}
	return m, nil
}

func (s *metadataStore) getByID(id contextdir) (Metadata, error) {
	fileName := filepath.Join(s.contextDir(id), metaFile)
	bytes, err := os.ReadFile(fileName)
	if err != nil {
		if errors.Is(err, os.ErrNotExist) {
			return Metadata{}, notFound(fmt.Errorf("context not found: %w", err))
		}
		return Metadata{}, err
	}
	var untyped untypedContextMetadata
	r := Metadata{
		Endpoints: make(map[string]any),
	}
	if err := json.Unmarshal(bytes, &untyped); err != nil {

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