docker/cli · error

unable to read inspect data: %w

Error message

unable to read inspect data: %w

What it means

Error "unable to read inspect data: %w" thrown in docker/cli.

Source

Thrown at cli/command/inspect/inspector.go:134

		}
		return i.tryRawInspectFallback(rawElement)
	}
	i.buffer.Write(buffer.Bytes())
	i.buffer.WriteByte('\n')
	return nil
}

// tryRawInspectFallback executes the inspect template with a raw interface.
// This allows docker cli to parse inspect structs injected with Swarm fields.
func (i *TemplateInspector) tryRawInspectFallback(rawElement []byte) error {
	var raw any
	buffer := new(bytes.Buffer)
	rdr := bytes.NewReader(rawElement)
	dec := json.NewDecoder(rdr)
	dec.UseNumber()

	if err := dec.Decode(&raw); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("unable to read inspect data: %w", err)
	}

	tmplMissingKey := i.tmpl.Option("missingkey=error")
	if err := tmplMissingKey.Execute(buffer, raw); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("template parsing error: %w", err)
	}

	i.buffer.Write(buffer.Bytes())
	i.buffer.WriteByte('\n')
	return nil
}

// Flush writes the result of inspecting all elements into the output stream.
func (i *TemplateInspector) Flush() error {
	if i.buffer.Len() == 0 {
		_, err := io.WriteString(i.out, "\n")
		return err
	}

View on GitHub (pinned to e9452d6e78)

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at cli/command/inspect/inspector.go:134 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/03b1a161fcd2f7f9.json. Report an issue: GitHub.