must specify limits Kubernetes Origin: Platform & cloud Last updated 15 Oct 2026

pods is forbidden: failed quota: must specify limits.cpu,limits.memory,requests.cpu,requests.memory

A ResourceQuota on the namespace covers CPU/memory, so every pod must declare those requests/limits — and this one doesn’t.

Exact message you may see must specify limitsfailed quota:must specify limits.cpumust specify requests.memory
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Seen on: Kubernetes

Meaning

When a quota tracks compute resources, pods without explicit values are rejected. Add resources to every container (including init and sidecar containers), or have the admin add a LimitRange with defaults.

Common causes

  • Container without resources.requests/limits
  • Init or injected sidecar container missing them
  • No LimitRange providing defaults

⚡ Quick fix

  1. Add requests and limits to all containers
  2. Create a LimitRange with default values
  3. Check injected sidecars (Istio, Vault)

Detailed fix by platform

YAML

  1. bash
    resources:
  requests: { cpu: 100m, memory: 128Mi }
  limits:   { cpu: 500m, memory: 256Mi }

Kubernetes

  1. bash
    kubectl create -n app -f - <<'EOF'
apiVersion: v1
kind: LimitRange
metadata: { name: defaults }
spec:
  limits:
  - type: Container
    default: { cpu: 500m, memory: 256Mi }
    defaultRequest: { cpu: 100m, memory: 128Mi }
EOF

How to diagnose

  1. Containers — Which container lacks resources?
  2. LimitRange — kubectl get limitrange -n app

🔧 Still not fixed?

Many errors look alike. If the steps above didn’t solve it, one of these is probably what you’re facing:

Where this error sits

Origin: Platform & cloud. Errors that are often confused with or caused by this one (click to open):

Android resource linking failed — AAPT: error: resource x (aka y) not found — Android resource linking failed (Android)Android resource link…android:attr/lStar not found — AAPT: error: resource android:attr/lStar not found (Android)android:attr/lStar no…Duplicate resources — Execution failed for task ':app:mergeDebugResources'. > Duplicate resources (Android)Duplicate resourcesEvicted — Kubernetes: Pod Evicted — The node was low on resource: memory / ephemeral-storage (Kubernetes)Evictedexceeded quota — Error creating: pods is forbidden: exceeded quota: compute-resources, requested: limits.memory=1Gi, used: ..., limited: ... (Kubernetes)exceeded quotaFailedScheduling — Kubernetes: Pod stuck in Pending — FailedScheduling: 0/3 nodes are available (Kubernetes)FailedSchedulingMetrics API not available — error: Metrics API not available / HPA: unable to get metrics for resource cpu (Kubernetes)Metrics API not avail…OOMKilled — Kubernetes: OOMKilled (exit code 137) (Kubernetes)OOMKilledmust spec…

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