docker/cli · error

unable to resolve docker endpoint: %w

Error message

unable to resolve docker endpoint: %w

What it means

Error "unable to resolve docker endpoint: %w" thrown in docker/cli.

Source

Thrown at cli/command/cli.go:298

	return nil
}

// NewAPIClientFromFlags creates a new APIClient from command line flags
func NewAPIClientFromFlags(opts *cliflags.ClientOptions, configFile *configfile.ConfigFile) (client.APIClient, error) {
	if opts.Context != "" && len(opts.Hosts) > 0 {
		return nil, errors.New("conflicting options: cannot specify both --host and --context")
	}

	storeConfig := DefaultContextStoreConfig()
	contextStore := &ContextStoreWithDefault{
		Store: store.New(config.ContextStoreDir(), storeConfig),
		Resolver: func() (*DefaultContext, error) {
			return resolveDefaultContext(opts, storeConfig)
		},
	}
	endpoint, err := resolveDockerEndpoint(contextStore, resolveContextName(opts, configFile))
	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("unable to resolve docker endpoint: %w", err)
	}
	return newAPIClientFromEndpoint(endpoint, configFile, client.WithUserAgent(UserAgent()))
}

func newAPIClientFromEndpoint(ep docker.Endpoint, configFile *configfile.ConfigFile, extraOpts ...client.Opt) (client.APIClient, error) {
	opts, err := ep.ClientOpts()
	if err != nil {
		return nil, err
	}
	if len(configFile.HTTPHeaders) > 0 {
		opts = append(opts, client.WithHTTPHeaders(configFile.HTTPHeaders))
	}
	withCustomHeaders, err := withCustomHeadersFromEnv()
	if err != nil {
		return nil, err
	}
	if withCustomHeaders != nil {
		opts = append(opts, withCustomHeaders)

View on GitHub (pinned to e9452d6e78)

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at cli/command/cli.go:298 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/1b5b23256780fc40.json. Report an issue: GitHub.