DVC "failed to pull data ... no remote" in CI

By Kaveh Alemi·Latchkey

dvc pull needs a storage remote to download the data referenced by .dvc/dvc.lock files, and none is configured (or no default is set) in the CI checkout. Without a remote, DVC cannot materialize the data.

What this error means

A step fails with "ERROR: failed to pull data from the cloud - no remote provided and no default remote set" or "config file error: no remote specified".

ERROR: failed to pull data from the cloud - no remote provided and no default remote set

Common causes

No remote configured in the checked-out repo

The CI checkout has no .dvc/config remote, or the remote is defined in a local (gitignored) config that CI does not have.

No default remote selected

Several remotes exist but none is marked default, so dvc pull with no -r has nothing to use.

How to fix it

Configure the remote in CI

1. Add the remote and set it as default (committed config or a CI step).
2. Provide remote credentials via CI secrets.
3. Run dvc pull against that remote.

dvc remote add -d storage s3://my-bucket/dvcstore
dvc remote modify storage access_key_id ${AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID}
dvc pull

Name the remote explicitly

If a remote exists but is not default, pass it directly.

dvc pull -r storage

How to prevent it

• Commit a default remote in .dvc/config so CI inherits it.
• Supply remote credentials through CI secrets.
• Keep remote-only settings out of local-only config files.

Frequently asked questions

Related guides

References

• Python documentation
• pip documentation
• GitHub Actions documentation