kubernetes/kops · error

failed to find kind in object

Error message

failed to find kind in object

What it means

After apiVersion checks, Prune requires each object to have a non-empty kind so it can build a GroupKind key for the keep-set. A document with no `kind` field produces this plain (non-wrapped) error and aborts pruning.

Source

Thrown at channels/pkg/channels/prune.go:59

	if spec == nil {
		return nil
	}

	objects, err := kubemanifest.LoadObjectsFrom(manifest)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("failed to parse objects: %w", err)
	}

	objectsByKind := make(map[schema.GroupKind][]*kubemanifest.Object)
	for _, object := range objects {
		gv, err := schema.ParseGroupVersion(object.APIVersion())
		if err != nil || gv.Version == "" {
			return fmt.Errorf("failed to parse apiVersion %q", object.APIVersion())
		}
		kind := object.Kind()
		if kind == "" {
			return fmt.Errorf("failed to find kind in object")
		}

		gvk := gv.WithKind(kind)
		gk := gvk.GroupKind()
		objectsByKind[gk] = append(objectsByKind[gk], object)
	}

	for i := range spec.Kinds {
		pruneKind := &spec.Kinds[i]
		gk := schema.GroupKind{Group: pruneKind.Group, Kind: pruneKind.Kind}
		if err := p.pruneObjectsOfKind(ctx, gk, pruneKind, objectsByKind[gk]); err != nil {
			return fmt.Errorf("failed to prune objects of kind %s: %w", gk, err)
		}
	}

	return nil
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 4c8573c808)

Solutions

1. Add the correct `kind` field to the offending document in the addon manifest
2. Remove empty/placeholder documents from the multi-document manifest
3. Validate the whole file with `kubectl apply --dry-run=client -f manifest.yaml`

Example fix

// before
apiVersion: v1
metadata:
  name: cm
// after
apiVersion: v1
kind: ConfigMap
metadata:
  name: cm

func checkKinds(manifest []byte) error {
    objs, _ := kubemanifest.LoadObjectsFrom(manifest)
    for _, o := range objs {
        if o.Kind() == "" {
            return fmt.Errorf("document without kind: apiVersion=%q name=%q", o.APIVersion(), o.GetName())
        }
    }
    return nil
}

if err := pruner.Prune(ctx, manifest, spec); err != nil && err.Error() == "failed to find kind in object" {
    return fmt.Errorf("manifest contains a document missing kind; fix before pruning")
}

When it happens

Trigger: A manifest document omits `kind` entirely (or sets `kind: ""`), e.g. a bare List item, a ConfigMap snippet, or a comment-only YAML document that still loads as an object.

Common situations: Hand-written or generated manifests missing kind; copying partial resource snippets from documentation; YAML anchors/lists accidentally producing an empty document.

Related errors

• failed to parse apiVersion %q
• failed to parse objects: %w
• failed to parse objects: %w
• invalid InstanceGroup name: %v
• must specify %q label with cluster name to replace SSHCreden

AI-assisted analysis of kubernetes/kops@4c8573c808 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/33fdbd585fdac571. Report an issue: GitHub.