goreleaser/goreleaser · error

ko: %s does not contain a valid local import path (%s) for d

Error message

ko: %s does not contain a valid local import path (%s) for directory (%s): %w

What it means

buildBuildOptions uses golang.org/x/tools/go/packages to resolve ko.main (or "." if empty) into a local import path relative to ko.working_dir; packages.Load itself errored, so goreleaser reports that the directory does not contain a valid local import path, wrapping the underlying load error.

Source

Thrown at internal/pipe/ko/ko.go:403

func buildBuildOptions(ctx *context.Context, cfg config.Ko) (*buildOptions, error) {
	localImportPath := cfg.Main
	if localImportPath == "" {
		// ko.main is optional, and go1.27+ rejects an empty package pattern.
		localImportPath = "."
	}

	dir := filepath.Clean(cfg.WorkingDir)
	if dir == "." {
		dir = ""
	}

	pkgs, err := packages.Load(&packages.Config{
		Mode: packages.NeedName,
		Dir:  dir,
	}, localImportPath)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf(
			"ko: %s does not contain a valid local import path (%s) for directory (%s): %w",
			cfg.ID, localImportPath, cfg.WorkingDir, err,
		)
	}

	if len(pkgs) != 1 {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf(
			"ko: %s results in %d local packages, only 1 is expected",
			cfg.ID, len(pkgs),
		)
	}

	opts := &buildOptions{
		importPath:          pkgs[0].PkgPath,
		workingDir:          cfg.WorkingDir,
		bare:                cfg.Bare,
		preserveImportPaths: cfg.PreserveImportPaths,
		baseImportPaths:     cfg.BaseImportPaths,

View on GitHub (pinned to f5edd73956)

Solutions

1. Run `go list ./...` (or `go list <pattern>`) in ko.working_dir to reproduce and see the raw error
2. Fix ko.main to a valid package pattern (e.g. ./cmd/app) or remove it to default to "."
3. Ensure go.mod exists in working_dir
4. Run `go mod tidy` if go.sum/module errors appear

Example fix

// before
kos:
  - main: ./ap
// after
kos:
  - main: ./cmd/app

cd "$(yq '.kos[0].working_dir // "."' .goreleaser.yaml)" && go list "$(yq '.kos[0].main // "."' .goreleaser.yaml)" >/dev/null || echo 'ko.main unresolvable'

When it happens

Trigger: packages.Load fails for the given pattern/dir: no Go module in working_dir, invalid pattern syntax, missing go.sum entries, or tooling errors loading the package graph.

Common situations: ko.main points at a directory with no Go files; running outside a module (no go.mod); corrupted module cache; typo in ko.main pattern like "./cmmd".

Related errors

• ko: %s results in %d local packages, only 1 is expected
• invalid sort direction
• failed to apply template %s: %w
• globbing failed for pattern %s: %w
• failed to parse %s: %w

AI-assisted analysis of goreleaser/goreleaser@f5edd73956 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/2eadca7345383d4b. Report an issue: GitHub.