kubernetes/kops · error

building cloud: %w

Error message

building cloud: %w

What it means

Thrown by buildBootstrapData when cloudup.BuildCloud fails to construct the cloud provider interface from the internal kops.Cluster spec (pkg/controllers/clusterapi/kopsconfig_controller.go:214-216). BuildCloud requires the cluster spec to identify a supported cloud provider and to contain the provider-specific configuration (e.g. region for AWS) needed to instantiate a cloud client.

Source

Thrown at pkg/controllers/clusterapi/kopsconfig_controller.go:216

		configBuilder.ClusterName = clusterInternal.Name
	}

	ig := &kops.InstanceGroup{}
	{
		ig.SetName("placeholder-ig-name") // IG name is not used for nodeup config generation
		ig.Spec.Role = kops.InstanceGroupRoleNode
		// The machine image is chosen by the CAPI infrastructure provider and is not used for
		// nodeup config generation; the placeholder avoids resolving a default from the channel.
		ig.Spec.Image = "placeholder-image"

		configBuilder.InstanceGroup = ig
		configBuilder.InstanceGroupName = ig.Name
	}

	{
		cloud, err := cloudup.BuildCloud(clusterInternal)
		if err != nil {
			return nil, fmt.Errorf("building cloud: %w", err)
		}
		configBuilder.Cloud = cloud
	}

	bootstrapData, err := configBuilder.GetBootstrapData(ctx)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("building bootstrap data: %w", err)
	}

	return bootstrapData.NodeupScript, nil
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 4c8573c808)

Solutions

1. Verify the Cluster spec's cloudProvider field is set to a supported provider (aws, gce, openstack, etc.) and check the wrapped error for specifics.
2. Ensure provider-required fields exist in the cluster spec (e.g. spec.networking type, subnets with correct region/zones).
3. Re-apply the Cluster object with a complete, kops-validated spec (validate with kops toolbox or kubectl apply from a kops-generated manifest).
4. Confirm the controller binary supports the cloud provider used (check kops version release notes for cluster-api provider support).
5. If BuildCloud fails due to missing credentials or API access for the provider, check that the management cluster has valid cloud credentials mounted.

Example fix

// before: Cluster spec missing provider field
spec:
  kubernetesVersion: v1.29.0
// after
spec:
  cloudProvider: aws
  kubernetesVersion: v1.29.0
  networkCIDR: 10.0.0.0/16
  subnets:
  - name: us-east-1a
    type: Public
    zone: us-east-1a

// Validate required cluster spec fields before BuildCloud is reachable
if cluster.Spec.CloudProvider == nil || cluster.Spec.CloudProvider.Empty() {
	return fmt.Errorf("cluster %s has no cloudProvider set; BuildCloud will fail", cluster.Name)
}
if len(cluster.Spec.Subnets) == 0 {
	return fmt.Errorf("cluster %s has no subnets; provider config incomplete", cluster.Name)
}

When it happens

Trigger: The kops Cluster has no valid spec.provider/cloudConfig (e.g. empty or unrecognized cloud field), required provider settings are missing (e.g. no region/networking config), BuildCloud cannot initialize a cloud client for the provider, or the converted cluster spec is incomplete because upstream conversion dropped fields.

Common situations: A Cluster object created without the cloud provider field populated; a provider unsupported by the kops cluster-api integration; a Cluster spec that lost fields during conversion from a newer schema; cluster spec referencing an invalid region or provider configuration.

Related errors

• converting cluster object: %w
• building bootstrap data: %w
• error identifying node %q: %v
• node identity is required
• did not find owner for node %q

AI-assisted analysis of kubernetes/kops@4c8573c808 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e0f5fe5cbc091644. Report an issue: GitHub.