helm/helm · error

failed to refresh resource information: %w

Error message

failed to refresh resource information: %w

What it means

Thrown by patchResourceClientSide (pkg/kube/client.go:1167) when, after computing an empty patch ({} or nil — i.e. no changes between stored, live, and rendered configs), Helm re-GETs the resource to refresh its local copy (needed so labels/metadata are populated for later logic). A GET failure here — RBAC, connectivity, object vanished — aborts the update even though nothing was going to be modified.

Source

Thrown at pkg/kube/client.go:1167

		return fmt.Errorf("failed to refresh object after replace: %w", err)
	}

	return nil
}

func patchResourceClientSide(original runtime.Object, target *resource.Info, threeWayMergeForUnstructured bool) error {
	patch, patchType, err := createPatch(original, target, threeWayMergeForUnstructured)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("failed to create patch: %w", err)
	}

	kind := target.Mapping.GroupVersionKind.Kind
	if patch == nil || string(patch) == "{}" {
		slog.Debug("no changes detected", "kind", kind, "name", target.Name)
		// This needs to happen to make sure that Helm has the latest info from the API
		// Otherwise there will be no labels and other functions that use labels will panic
		if err := target.Get(); err != nil {
			return fmt.Errorf("failed to refresh resource information: %w", err)
		}
		return nil
	}

	// send patch to server
	slog.Debug("patching resource", "kind", kind, "name", target.Name, "namespace", target.Namespace)
	helper := resource.NewHelper(target.Client, target.Mapping).WithFieldManager(getManagedFieldsManager())
	obj, err := helper.Patch(target.Namespace, target.Name, patchType, patch, nil)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("cannot patch %q with kind %s: %w", target.Name, kind, err)
	}

	target.Refresh(obj, true)

	return nil
}

// upgradeClientSideFieldManager is simply a wrapper around csaupgrade.UpgradeManagedFields

View on GitHub (pinned to 2a29f1770b)

Solutions

1. Verify get permissions: kubectl auth can-i get <resource> -n <namespace>; grant the verb to Helm's identity.
2. If the object was deleted externally (404), decide intent: either restore it (helm rollback / re-install) or accept deletion — the patch was empty so no data was lost.
3. For transient errors, simply re-run helm upgrade — the operation is idempotent since no patch had been applied.
4. Stabilize external actors that delete resources concurrently (exclude them from pruning, or sequence the pipelines).

Example fix

# before: SA can patch but not get; no-op upgrade fails on refresh
rules:
  - verbs: ["patch", "update"]
    resources: ["configmaps"]

# after: include get for the no-change refresh path
rules:
  - verbs: ["get", "patch", "update"]
    resources: ["configmaps"]

// Ensure get verb exists before a possibly no-op upgrade
// kubectl auth can-i get <resource> -n <ns> as Helm's identity, or SelfSubjectAccessReview in code

func isNotFoundCause(err error) bool {
    return apierrors.IsNotFound(errors.Unwrap(errors.Unwrap(err)))
}

if err != nil && strings.Contains(err.Error(), "failed to refresh resource information") {
    if isNotFoundCause(err) {
        // nothing was changed (patch was empty); object gone — reconcile release expectations, no retry needed
    } else if isRetryableAPIError(errors.Unwrap(err)) {
        // transient GET failure -> safe to retry the whole update
    }
}

When it happens

Trigger: Client.Update where the computed patch is empty and target.Get() then fails: identity lacking the 'get' verb; object deleted out-of-band between patch computation and refresh; apiserver connectivity blip; namespace deleted concurrently.

Common situations: Re-running helm upgrade with no manifest changes under a minimally privileged service account (patch granted but get forgotten); external automation (GitOps pruning, operators) deleting resources mid-upgrade; short-lived network interruptions in CI.

Related errors

• an error occurred while cleaning up resources. original roll
• unable to cleanup resources: %w
• could not get information about the resource: %w
• failed to create resource: %w
• failed to delete resource namespace=%s, name=%s, kind=%s: %w

AI-assisted analysis of helm/helm@2a29f1770b (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/74bc6b77e12cc012. Report an issue: GitHub.