circleci local execute results in immediate panic

[rupert-madden-abbott]

Meta:

CircleCI CLI Version:
0.1.34770+49672ea (release)

Operating System:
Ubuntu 24.04.3 LTS

CircleCI CLI Diagnostic:

---
CircleCI CLI Diagnostics
---
Debugger mode: false
Config found: /home/rupert/.circleci/cli.yml
API host: https://circleci.com
API endpoint: graphql-unstable
OK, got a token.
Hello, Rupert Madden-Abbott.

---

Current behavior:

First I process my config:

circleci config process .circleci/config.yml > /tmp/process.yml

Which looks like this:

cat /tmp/process.yml
version: 2
jobs:
  build:
    docker:
    - image: cimg/base:2026.03
      auth:
        username: $DOCKER_USER
        password: $DOCKER_PASSWORD
    resource_class: small
    steps:
    - checkout
workflows:
  build:
    jobs:
    - build:
        context: foobar
  version: 2

Then I try to run it locally:

circleci local execute -c /tmp/process.yml build \
  --env "DOCKER_USER=foo" \
  --env "DOCKER_PASSWORD=bar"
Fetching latest build environment...
Docker image digest: sha256:008ba7f4223f1e26c11df9575283491b620074fa96da6961e0dcde47fb757014
====>> Spin up environment
Build-agent version  ()
process panic
goroutine 1 [running]:
runtime/debug.Stack()
        /usr/local/go/src/runtime/debug/stack.go:24 +0x65
github.com/circleci/build-agent/cmd/internal/setup.PanicHandler()
        /mnt/ramdisk/circleci/project/cmd/internal/setup/handlers.go:23 +0x85
panic({0x156a6a0, 0xc000126ed0})
        /usr/local/go/src/runtime/panic.go:1038 +0x215
github.com/circleci/build-agent/outer/docker.NewDockerExecutorWithClient({{{{0xc000040108, 0x15}, {{...}, {...}, 0x0, 0x1, {...}, {...}, {...}, {...}, ...}, ...}, ...}, ...}, ...)
        /mnt/ramdisk/circleci/project/outer/docker/docker.go:67 +0x699
github.com/circleci/build-agent/outer/docker.NewDockerExecutor({{{{0xc000040108, 0x15}, {{...}, {...}, 0x0, 0x1, {...}, {...}, {...}, {...}, ...}, ...}, ...}, ...}, ...)
        /mnt/ramdisk/circleci/project/outer/docker/docker.go:103 +0xdc
github.com/circleci/build-agent/outer.newExecutor({_, _}, {{{{0xc000040108, 0x15}, {{...}, {...}, 0x0, 0x1, {...}, {...}, ...}, ...}, ...}, ...}, ...)
        /mnt/ramdisk/circleci/project/outer/run.go:369 +0x265
github.com/circleci/build-agent/outer.ConfigureAndRun({_, _}, {{0xc000041e48, 0x15}, {0x0, 0x0}, {0xc000041fb0, 0x16}, {0x0, 0x0}, ...})
        /mnt/ramdisk/circleci/project/outer/run.go:219 +0x17ad
github.com/circleci/build-agent/cmd/internal/outer/local.runExecuteJob(0xc0003a8a80, 0x0, {0x1987540, 0x0})
        /mnt/ramdisk/circleci/project/cmd/internal/outer/local/execute.go:125 +0x2b6
github.com/circleci/build-agent/cmd/internal/outer/local.NewExecuteJobCmd.func1(0xc0002b4280, {0x165cc0d, 0xd, 0xd})
        /mnt/ramdisk/circleci/project/cmd/internal/outer/local/execute.go:64 +0x29
github.com/spf13/cobra.(*Command).execute(0xc0002b4280, {0xc0006e3ba0, 0xd, 0xd})
        /home/circleci/go/pkg/mod/github.com/spf13/cobra@v1.2.1/command.go:856 +0x60e
github.com/spf13/cobra.(*Command).ExecuteC(0xc0002b4000)
        /home/circleci/go/pkg/mod/github.com/spf13/cobra@v1.2.1/command.go:974 +0x3bc
github.com/spf13/cobra.(*Command).Execute(...)
        /home/circleci/go/pkg/mod/github.com/spf13/cobra@v1.2.1/command.go:902
github.com/circleci/build-agent/cmd.Execute()
        /mnt/ramdisk/circleci/project/cmd/root.go:64 +0x2cf
main.main()
        /mnt/ramdisk/circleci/project/main.go:14 +0xca

Expected behavior:

It should not panic

When did this begin / Was this previously working?:

I'm not sure, it's been a long time since I've tried.

[rupert-madden-abbott]

Do let me know if you would like any assistance in reproducing the problem.