docker/cli · error

no such service: %s

Error message

no such service: %s

What it means

Error "no such service: %s" thrown in docker/cli.

Source

Thrown at cli/command/service/inspect.go:66

	flags.BoolVar(&opts.pretty, "pretty", false, "Print the information in a human friendly format")

	return cmd
}

func runInspect(ctx context.Context, dockerCLI command.Cli, opts inspectOptions) error {
	apiClient := dockerCLI.Client()

	if opts.pretty {
		opts.format = "pretty"
	}

	getRef := func(ref string) (any, []byte, error) {
		// Service inspect shows defaults values in empty fields.
		res, err := apiClient.ServiceInspect(ctx, ref, client.ServiceInspectOptions{InsertDefaults: true})
		if err == nil || !errdefs.IsNotFound(err) {
			return res.Service, res.Raw, err
		}
		return nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("no such service: %s", ref)
	}

	getNetwork := func(ref string) (any, []byte, error) {
		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
		}
	}

View on GitHub (pinned to e9452d6e78)

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at cli/command/service/inspect.go:66 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of docker/cli@e9452d6e78 (2026-08-01). Data as JSON: /data/errors/669d0d5ed8b6d350.json. Report an issue: GitHub.