kubernetes/kops · error

pass in the cloud provider explicitly using --cloud: %w

Error message

pass in the cloud provider explicitly using --cloud: %w

What it means

When --cloud is not specified, NewCluster tries clouds.GuessCloudForPath on the state-store path to infer the provider. If inference fails (path not recognizable as belonging to a cloud), it wraps the error with advice to pass --cloud explicitly.

Source

Thrown at upup/pkg/fi/cloudup/new_cluster.go:330

	}
	cluster.Spec.API.Access = opt.AdminAccess
	if len(opt.SSHAccess) != 0 {
		cluster.Spec.SSHAccess = opt.SSHAccess
	} else {
		cluster.Spec.SSHAccess = opt.AdminAccess
	}

	if len(opt.Zones) == 0 {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("must specify at least one zone for the cluster (use --zones)")
	}
	allZones := sets.NewString()
	allZones.Insert(opt.Zones...)
	allZones.Insert(opt.ControlPlaneZones...)

	if opt.CloudProvider == "" {
		cloud, err := clouds.GuessCloudForPath(cluster.Spec.ConfigStore.Base)
		if err != nil {
			return nil, fmt.Errorf("pass in the cloud provider explicitly using --cloud: %w", err)
		}
		klog.V(2).Infof("Inferred %q cloud provider from state store %q", cloud, cluster.Spec.ConfigStore.Base)
		opt.CloudProvider = string(cloud)
	}

	var cloud fi.Cloud

	switch api.CloudProviderID(opt.CloudProvider) {
	case api.CloudProviderAWS:
		cluster.Spec.CloudProvider.AWS = &api.AWSSpec{}
		cloudTags := map[string]string{}
		awsCloud, err := awsup.NewAWSCloud(opt.Zones[0][:len(opt.Zones[0])-1], cloudTags)
		if err != nil {
			return nil, err
		}
		cloud = awsCloud
	case api.CloudProviderAzure:
		cluster.Spec.CloudProvider.Azure = &api.AzureSpec{

View on GitHub (pinned to 4c8573c808)

Solutions

1. Pass --cloud explicitly, e.g. --cloud aws (or gce, do, hetzner, openstack, azure, scaleway, linode, metal)
2. Set opt.CloudProvider in NewClusterOptions
3. Fix the state-store path/credentials so GuessCloudForPath can infer the provider

Example fix

// before
kops create cluster --name c.example.com --zones us-east-1a --state vfs:///tmp/state
// after
kops create cluster --name c.example.com --cloud aws --zones us-east-1a --state vfs:///tmp/state

if opt.CloudProvider == "" {
    return fmt.Errorf("--cloud is required when the state store path cannot be inferred")
}

_, err := NewCluster(opt, cs)
if err != nil && strings.Contains(err.Error(), "pass in the cloud provider explicitly") {
    // set opt.CloudProvider and retry
}

When it happens

Trigger: `kops create cluster` without --cloud and with a --state path (e.g. a generic vfs path, file:// store, or inaccessible S3 path) from which no cloud provider can be guessed.

Common situations: Using a file/memfs state store in tests; S3 state store where credentials prevent reading the path; users migrating configs to a neutral storage backend.

Related errors

• cannot infer cloud provider from path: %q
• cloud provider %v does not support the terraform target
• DNS not implemented on azureCloud
• Error too many '=' (%d) in %s
• at least one channel URL is required

AI-assisted analysis of kubernetes/kops@4c8573c808 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/4ca0b9ad6e148168. Report an issue: GitHub.