What causes "`cloud_provider` is currently a required field." in hashicorp/packer?

Add cloud_provider = " " (e.g. "aws") to the data block.

`cloud_provider` is currently a required field.

Error message

`cloud_provider` is currently a required field.

What it means

Validation error from Configure() of the hcp-packer-image datasource when d.config.CloudProvider is empty. cloud_provider (aws, azure, gce, ...) is required because builds are filtered by platform to select the matching image. Like the sibling checks, it is appended to a packersdk.MultiError and returned before any registry call is made.

Source

Thrown at datasource/hcp-packer-image/data.go:94

	// Ensure either channel or iteration_id are set, and not both at the same time
	if d.config.Channel == "" &&
		d.config.IterationID == "" {
		errs = packersdk.MultiErrorAppend(errs, errors.New(
			"The `iteration_id` or `channel` must be specified."))
	}
	if d.config.Channel != "" &&
		d.config.IterationID != "" {
		errs = packersdk.MultiErrorAppend(errs, errors.New(
			"`iteration_id` and `channel` cannot both be specified."))
	}

	if d.config.Region == "" {
		errs = packersdk.MultiErrorAppend(errs, fmt.Errorf("`region` is "+
			"currently a required field."))
	}
	if d.config.CloudProvider == "" {
		errs = packersdk.MultiErrorAppend(errs, fmt.Errorf("`cloud_provider` is "+
			"currently a required field."))
	}

	if errs != nil && len(errs.Errors) > 0 {
		return errs
	}
	return nil
}

// DatasourceOutput Information from []*hcpPackerDeprecatedModels.HashicorpCloudPackerImage with some information
// from the parent []*hcpPackerDeprecatedModels.HashicorpCloudPackerBuild included where it seemed
// like it might be relevant. Need to copy so we can generate
type DatasourceOutput struct {
	// The name of the cloud provider that the image exists in. For example,
	// "aws", "azure", or "gce".
	CloudProvider string `mapstructure:"cloud_provider"`
	// The specific Packer builder or post-processor used to create the image.
	ComponentType string `mapstructure:"component_type"`

View on GitHub (pinned to eb36e3c3e4)

Solutions

Add cloud_provider = "<platform>" (e.g. "aws") to the data block.
Ensure the variable/local supplying it is set for the current build target.
Match the platform recorded in registry builds (e.g. 'aws', not 'amazon-ebs').
Migrate to hcp-packer-artifact; it uses an analogous platform field.

Example fix

// before
data "hcp-packer-image" "example" {
  bucket_name = "my-bucket"
  channel = "production"
  region = "us-east-1"
}
// after
data "hcp-packer-image" "example" {
  bucket_name = "my-bucket"
  channel = "production"
  region = "us-east-1"
  cloud_provider = "aws"
}

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

locals {
  hcp_provider = coalesce(var.hcp_provider, "aws")
}
# data "hcp-packer-image" "example" { cloud_provider = local.hcp_provider ... }

Prevention

Run `packer validate` in CI to catch all required-field errors in one pass.
Use platform names matching registry build.Platform values (aws/azure/gce).
Avoid attribute typos like 'provider' — the field is cloud_provider.

When it happens

Trigger: Configure() runs with no cloud_provider attribute in the data block, or the value interpolated into it is an empty string (unset variable, empty local, misnamed attribute).

Common situations: Forgetting cloud_provider when copying a single-provider template into a multi-provider codebase; a platform-specific variable unset for the current target; typos like 'cloudplatform' or 'provider'.

Understand the failure class

Background: "is required", "must be set", "missing required field": configuration validation errors across open-source libraries — this error's family across 36 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of hashicorp/packer@eb36e3c3e4 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/fcd30984b0a4a612. Report an issue: GitHub.