kubernetes/kops · error

error loading templates: %v

Error message

error loading templates: %v

What it means

After building model context, Run loads the built-in cloudup resource templates via templates.LoadTemplates. If reading or parsing those template assets fails, the error is wrapped as 'error loading templates'. This almost always indicates a corrupted or incomplete kOps installation (missing embedded assets) rather than user configuration.

Source

Thrown at upup/pkg/fi/cloudup/apply_cluster.go:550

	nodeUpAssets, err := nodemodel.BuildNodeUpAssets(ctx, assetBuilder)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, err
	}
	configBuilder, err := nodemodel.NewNodeUpConfigBuilder(cluster, assetBuilder, encryptionConfigSecretHash)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, err
	}
	bootstrapScriptBuilder := &model.BootstrapScriptBuilder{
		KopsModelContext:    modelContext,
		Lifecycle:           clusterLifecycle,
		NodeUpConfigBuilder: configBuilder,
		NodeUpAssets:        nodeUpAssets.NodeUpAssets,
	}

	{
		templates, err := templates.LoadTemplates(ctx, models.NewAssetPath("cloudup/resources"))
		if err != nil {
			return nil, fmt.Errorf("error loading templates: %v", err)
		}

		bcb := bootstrapchannelbuilder.NewBootstrapChannelBuilder(
			modelContext,
			clusterLifecycle,
			assetBuilder,
			templates,
			addons,
			addonRenderer,
		)

		l.Builders = append(l.Builders,

			bcb,
			&model.PKIModelBuilder{
				KopsModelContext: modelContext,
				Lifecycle:        clusterLifecycle,
			},

View on GitHub (pinned to 4c8573c808)

Solutions

1. Rebuild/reinstall kOps from a clean checkout: `make kops` (or download an official release)
2. Verify the failing template path exists in your source tree if building from source
3. Run `kops version` and ensure the binary matches your checkout/version expectations

Example fix

// before: broken local build
./kops update cluster ...  # error loading templates
// after
git checkout main && make kops && .build/dist/linux/amd64/kops update cluster ...

kops version && [ -x "$(command -v kops)" ] || echo "reinstall kops from official release"

templates, err := templates.LoadTemplates(ctx, path); if err != nil { return fmt.Errorf("error loading templates: %w; reinstall kops from a clean build", err) }

When it happens

Trigger: templates.LoadTemplates(ctx, models.NewAssetPath("cloudup/resources")) returns an error during `kops update cluster` — e.g. broken binary build without embedded assets, or a tampered/truncated install.

Common situations: Locally built kOps binary from a dirty checkout; unusual GOOS/GOARCH cross-compile dropping embedded files; filesystem issues reading the binary's assets; old binary incompatible with modified model paths in forks.

Related errors

• unable to marshal YAML: %v
• unable to marshal JSON: %v
• unable to expand the template: %s, error: %s
• unable to expand the snippets: %s, error: %s
• unable to read template: %s, error: %s

AI-assisted analysis of kubernetes/kops@4c8573c808 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/fc5b7940cd7b3317. Report an issue: GitHub.