attempted to encode a malformed backend state file; state_st

Error message

attempted to encode a malformed backend state file; state_store configuration data is missing

What it means

ConfigRaw holds the raw JSON of the state_store block's own arguments excluding the provider (statestore_config_state.go:30). Validate() at statestore_config_state.go:54 rejects a nil ConfigRaw because there would be nothing to decode against the schema later in Config()/PlanData().

Source

Thrown at internal/command/workdir/statestore_config_state.go:55

	return s == nil || s.Type == ""
}

// Validate returns true if there are no missing expected values, and
// important values have been validated, e.g. FQNs. When the config is
// invalid an error will be returned.
func (s *StateStoreConfigState) Validate() error {
	// Are any bits of data totally missing?
	if s.Empty() {
		return fmt.Errorf("attempted to encode a malformed backend state file; data is empty")
	}
	if s.Type == "" {
		return fmt.Errorf("attempted to encode a malformed backend state file; state store type is missing")
	}
	if s.Provider == nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("attempted to encode a malformed backend state file; provider data is missing")
	}
	if s.ConfigRaw == nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("attempted to encode a malformed backend state file; state_store configuration data is missing")
	}

	// Validity of data that is there
	err := s.Provider.Source.Validate()
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("state store is not valid: %w", err)
	}

	// Version information is required if the provider isn't builtin or unmanaged by Terraform
	switch s.ProviderSupplyMode {
	case getproviders.BuiltIn, getproviders.Reattached, getproviders.DevOverride:
		// These modes do not require version information
	case getproviders.ManagedByTerraform:
		if s.Provider.Version == nil {
			return fmt.Errorf("state store is not valid: provider version data is missing despite provider %s being managed by Terraform.", s.Provider.Source.ForDisplay())
		}
	default:
		panic(fmt.Sprintf("State store provider %q (%s) has unknown supply mode %q. This is a bug in Terraform and should be reported.", s.Provider.Source.Type, s.Provider.Source.ForDisplay(), s.ProviderSupplyMode))

View on GitHub (pinned to c9def3e214)

Solutions

If seen at runtime, report a Terraform bug.
Re-run 'terraform init' to regenerate.
In caller code, call SetConfig(val, schema) to populate ConfigRaw before encoding.

Example fix

// before
s := &StateStoreConfigState{Type:"remote", Provider:prov, ProviderSupplyMode:getproviders.ManagedByTerraform}
// ConfigRaw nil -> error 770

// after
s.SetConfig(configVal, storeSchema)

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

if s.ConfigRaw == nil {
    // populate first:
    // _ = s.SetConfig(val, storeSchema)
    return errors.New("state store config payload is missing")
}

Type guard

null

Try / catch

null

Prevention

Always call SetConfig(val, schema) after constructing a StateStoreConfigState.
Verify ConfigRaw is non-nil in a constructor/builder before returning the object.
Re-init to regenerate a complete file.

When it happens

Trigger: Validate() called on a StateStoreConfigState whose ConfigRaw is nil — typically because SetConfig was never called.

Common situations: State store object built without invoking SetConfig; file written without the config payload; programming error in the init path.

Understand the failure class

Parsing and encoding errors: unexpected token, malformed input — why parsers reject input and how to find the real culprit.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of hashicorp/terraform@c9def3e214 (2026-08-07). Data as JSON: /api/errors/98fa0e449e6b628c. Report an issue: GitHub.