kubernetes/kops · error

cluster %q not found

Error message

cluster %q not found

What it means

RunCreate successfully queried the backend for the labeled cluster but received a nil result, meaning no cluster with that name exists in the state store. kOps surfaces this as a distinct 'not found' message rather than a backend error.

Source

Thrown at cmd/kops/create.go:167

					}
					return fmt.Errorf("error creating cluster: %v", err)
				}
				fmt.Fprintf(&sb, "Created cluster/%s\n", v.ObjectMeta.Name)
				clusters = append(clusters, v)
				// cSpec = true

			case *kopsapi.InstanceGroup:
				clusterName = v.ObjectMeta.Labels[kopsapi.LabelClusterName]
				if clusterName == "" {
					return fmt.Errorf("must specify %q label with cluster name to create instanceGroup", kopsapi.LabelClusterName)
				}
				cluster, err := clientset.GetCluster(ctx, clusterName)
				if err != nil {
					return fmt.Errorf("error querying cluster %q: %v", clusterName, err)
				}

				if cluster == nil {
					return fmt.Errorf("cluster %q not found", clusterName)
				}

				_, err = clientset.InstanceGroupsFor(cluster).Create(ctx, v, metav1.CreateOptions{})
				if err != nil {
					if apierrors.IsAlreadyExists(err) {
						return fmt.Errorf("instanceGroup %q already exists", v.ObjectMeta.Name)
					}
					return fmt.Errorf("error creating instanceGroup: %v", err)
				}
				fmt.Fprintf(&sb, "Created instancegroup/%s\n", v.ObjectMeta.Name)

			case *kopsapi.SSHCredential:
				clusterName = v.ObjectMeta.Labels[kopsapi.LabelClusterName]
				if clusterName == "" {
					return fmt.Errorf("must specify %q label with cluster name to create SSHCredential", kopsapi.LabelClusterName)
				}
				if v.Spec.PublicKey == "" {
					return fmt.Errorf("spec.PublicKey is required")

View on GitHub (pinned to 4c8573c808)

Solutions

1. Create the cluster first (`kops create -f cluster.yaml`) then create the instance group
2. Fix the `kops.k8s.io/cluster` label to match an existing cluster name exactly
3. Check with `kops get clusters` which clusters exist in KOPS_STATE_STORE

Example fix

// before
labels:
  kops.k8s.io/cluster: myclster.example.com
// after
labels:
  kops.k8s.io/cluster: mycluster.example.com

clusterName := ig.Labels[kopsapi.LabelClusterName]
if _, err := clientset.GetCluster(ctx, clusterName); err != nil || clusterName == "" {
    return fmt.Errorf("cluster %q does not exist; create it first", clusterName)
}

When it happens

Trigger: `kops create -f ig.yaml` where the InstanceGroup's `kops.k8s.io/cluster` label names a cluster that was never created or has been deleted, in the same command run or a prior one.

Common situations: Typo in the cluster label; creating instance groups before `kops create -f cluster.yaml` (both in one -f file where the IG section precedes the Cluster section, or in separate runs); cluster deleted by `kops delete cluster`.

Understand the failure class

Background: 'Could not be found', 'does not exist', 'not found in database': the resource-not-found family when an ID, slug, key, or URI lookup comes back empty — this error's family across 20 libraries.

Related errors

• instanceGroup: %v does not exist (try adding --force flag)
• must specify %q label with cluster name to create instanceGr
• instanceGroup %q already exists
• error creating instanceGroup: %v
• InstanceGroup %q not found

AI-assisted analysis of kubernetes/kops@4c8573c808 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/af5363f663a42ba9. Report an issue: GitHub.