image options are incompatible with type npipe

Error message

image options are incompatible with type npipe

What it means

Raised by handleNpipeToMount when a `type: npipe` volume carries an `image:` options block. Image mount options only make sense when mounting an OCI image's filesystem, not when forwarding a Windows named pipe, so the converter rejects the combination.

Source

Thrown at cli/compose/convert/volume.go:182

	if volume.Tmpfs != nil {
		result.TmpfsOptions = &mount.TmpfsOptions{
			SizeBytes: volume.Tmpfs.Size,
		}
	}
	return result, nil
}

func handleNpipeToMount(volume composetypes.ServiceVolumeConfig) (mount.Mount, error) {
	result := createMountFromVolume(volume)

	if volume.Source == "" {
		return mount.Mount{}, errors.New("invalid npipe source, source cannot be empty")
	}
	if volume.Volume != nil {
		return mount.Mount{}, errors.New("volume options are incompatible with type npipe")
	}
	if volume.Image != nil {
		return mount.Mount{}, errors.New("image options are incompatible with type npipe")
	}
	if volume.Tmpfs != nil {
		return mount.Mount{}, errors.New("tmpfs options are incompatible with type npipe")
	}
	if volume.Bind != nil {
		result.BindOptions = &mount.BindOptions{
			Propagation: mount.Propagation(volume.Bind.Propagation),
		}
	}
	return result, nil
}

func handleClusterToMount(
	volume composetypes.ServiceVolumeConfig,
	stackVolumes volumes,
	namespace Namespace,
) (mount.Mount, error) {
	if volume.Source == "" {

View on GitHub (pinned to e9452d6e78)

Solutions

Remove the `image:` block from the npipe entry
If image-content mounting was intended, use `type: image` with the image reference as `source:`

Example fix

# before
volumes:
  - type: npipe
    source: \\.\pipe\docker_engine
    target: \\.\pipe\docker_engine
    image:
      subpath: data
# after
volumes:
  - type: npipe
    source: \\.\pipe\docker_engine
    target: \\.\pipe\docker_engine

When it happens

Trigger: ServiceVolumeConfig with Type npipe and Image != nil, e.g. `type: npipe` plus `image: {subpath: dir}`, during `docker stack deploy`.

Common situations: Copy-paste from an image-mount entry into a Windows npipe entry; YAML anchors merging image options into unrelated volumes.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of docker/cli@e9452d6e78 (2026-08-01). Data as JSON: /data/errors/ad0b260f3c533db8.json. Report an issue: GitHub.