docker/cli · error

server did not provide an image ID. Cannot write %s

Error message

server did not provide an image ID. Cannot write %s

What it means

Error "server did not provide an image ID. Cannot write %s" thrown in docker/cli.

Source

Thrown at cli/command/image/build.go:390

			}
			if options.quiet {
				_, _ = fmt.Fprintf(dockerCli.Err(), "%s%s", progBuff, buildBuff)
			}
			return cli.StatusError{Status: jerr.Message, StatusCode: jerr.Code}
		}
		return err
	}

	// Everything worked so if -q was provided the output from the daemon
	// should be just the image ID and we'll print that to stdout.
	if options.quiet {
		imageID = fmt.Sprintf("%s", buildBuff)
		_, _ = fmt.Fprint(dockerCli.Out(), imageID)
	}

	if options.imageIDFile != "" {
		if imageID == "" {
			return fmt.Errorf("server did not provide an image ID. Cannot write %s", options.imageIDFile)
		}
		if err := os.WriteFile(options.imageIDFile, []byte(imageID), 0o666); err != nil {
			return err
		}
	}

	return nil
}

// validateTag checks if the given image name can be resolved.
func validateTag(rawRepo string) (string, error) {
	_, err := reference.ParseNormalizedNamed(rawRepo)
	if err != nil {
		return "", err
	}

	return rawRepo, nil
}

View on GitHub (pinned to e9452d6e78)

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at cli/command/image/build.go:390 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/f24f147b920d6e72.json. Report an issue: GitHub.