kubernetes/kops · error

cluster %q not found

Error message

cluster %q not found

What it means

GetCluster in kops can return a nil cluster with a nil error (the clientset convention for 'not found'). This error is raised to convert that silent nil result into an explicit 'cluster not found' message. It means the state store has no cluster object with the given name.

Source

Thrown at cmd/kops/root.go:353

	return c.clusterName
}

func GetCluster(ctx context.Context, factory commandutils.Factory, clusterName string) (*kopsapi.Cluster, error) {
	if clusterName == "" {
		return nil, field.Required(field.NewPath("clusterName"), "Cluster name is required")
	}

	clientset, err := factory.KopsClient()
	if err != nil {
		return nil, err
	}

	cluster, err := clientset.GetCluster(ctx, clusterName)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("error reading cluster configuration: %v", err)
	}
	if cluster == nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("cluster %q not found", clusterName)
	}

	if clusterName != cluster.ObjectMeta.Name {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("cluster name did not match expected name: %v vs %v", clusterName, cluster.ObjectMeta.Name)
	}
	return cluster, nil
}

func GetClusterNameForCompletionNoKubeconfig(clusterArgs []string) (clusterName string, completions []string, directive cobra.ShellCompDirective) {
	if len(clusterArgs) > 0 {
		return clusterArgs[0], nil, 0
	}

	if rootCommand.clusterName != "" {
		return rootCommand.clusterName, nil, 0
	}

	return "", []string{"--name"}, cobra.ShellCompDirectiveNoFileComp

View on GitHub (pinned to 4c8573c808)

Solutions

1. List clusters with kops get clusters and copy the exact cluster name.
2. Use the fully-qualified cluster DNS name (e.g. name.k8s.local for gossip clusters).
3. Confirm KOPS_STATE_STORE / --state points at the store containing the cluster.
4. Create the cluster first (kops create cluster ...) if it does not exist yet.

Example fix

// before
kops create ig nodes --name mycluster
// after
kops get clusters  # shows: mycluster.k8s.local
kops create ig nodes --name mycluster.k8s.local

EXISTING=$(kops get clusters -o name | grep -F "$CLUSTER_NAME") || { echo "cluster $CLUSTER_NAME does not exist"; exit 1; }

cluster, err := GetCluster(ctx, clusterName)
if err != nil {
    return err
}
if cluster == nil {
    return fmt.Errorf("cluster %q not found in state store; run 'kops get clusters' to list valid names", clusterName)
}

When it happens

Trigger: clientset.GetCluster returns (nil, nil) — i.e. no cluster configuration exists at the requested name in the state store — while running commands like create instancegroup, create keypair, create secret, or create sshpublickey.

Common situations: Typo in the cluster name or case mismatch; KOPS_STATE_STORE pointing to a different bucket than the one the cluster lives in; DNS/name mismatch such as using a short name instead of the fully-qualified cluster name (e.g. 'mycluster' vs 'mycluster.k8s.local').

Related errors

• error loading NodeupConfig %q: %v
• error querying cluster %q: %v
• error getting cluster: %q: %v
• listing keysets: %v
• adding encryptionconfig secret: %v

AI-assisted analysis of kubernetes/kops@4c8573c808 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/609a4fec85c65599. Report an issue: GitHub.