hashicorp/terraform · warning

canceled reading current outputs

Error message

canceled reading current outputs

What it means

Thrown by GetRootOutputValues when the caller-supplied context (not the internal 1-minute deadline) is canceled while RetryBackoff is retrying StateVersionOutputs.ReadCurrent. This is distinct from DeadlineExceeded: the parent context was explicitly canceled, typically because the user pressed Ctrl+C or the calling command was terminated.

Solutions

1. If intentional cancellation, no action needed — this is expected behavior
2. If unexpected, investigate why the parent context was canceled (upstream timeout, signal handling)
3. Avoid canceling terraform mid-operation if output consistency is needed; let operations complete

// Use a context that will not be prematurely canceled:
ctx := context.Background() // or a context with a generous deadline, not one tied to an interrupt
outputs, err := state.GetRootOutputValues(ctx)

outputs, err := state.GetRootOutputValues(ctx)
if err != nil {
    if errors.Is(ctx.Err(), context.Canceled) || strings.Contains(err.Error(), "canceled reading") {
        // caller intentionally canceled — no retry needed
        return nil, err
    }
    return nil, err
}

When it happens

Trigger: User cancels the terraform command (Ctrl+C / SIGINT) during output reading; parent process (CI runner, wrapper script) terminates and cancels the context; a programmatic caller cancels the context due to its own timeout or shutdown.

Common situations: User impatient during a slow output read and presses Ctrl+C; CI job cancelled by the orchestration system; terraform invoked as a subprocess and the parent process is killed.

Related errors

• current outputs were not ready to be read within the…
• could not decode output
• could not interpret output
• could not interpret value
• could not marshal output

AI-assisted analysis of hashicorp/terraform@d32a084675 (2026-08-11). Data as JSON: /api/errors/0fef894f05a82e94. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at internal/cloud/state.go:570

	err := RetryBackoff(ctx, func() error {
		var err error
		so, err = s.tfeClient.StateVersionOutputs.ReadCurrent(ctx, s.workspace.ID)

		if err != nil {
			if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "service unavailable") {
				return err
			}
			return NonRetryableError{err}
		}
		return nil
	})

	if err != nil {
		switch err {
		case context.DeadlineExceeded:
			return nil, fmt.Errorf("current outputs were not ready to be read within the deadline. Please try again")
		case context.Canceled:
			return nil, fmt.Errorf("canceled reading current outputs")
		}
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("could not read state version outputs: %w", err)
	}

	result := make(map[string]*states.OutputValue)

	for _, output := range so.Items {
		if output.DetailedType == nil {
			// If there is no detailed type information available, this state was probably created
			// with a version of terraform < 1.3.0. In this case, we'll eject completely from this
			// function and fall back to the old behavior of reading the entire state file, which
			// requires a higher level of authorization.
			log.Printf("[DEBUG] falling back to reading full state")

			if err := s.RefreshState(); err != nil {
				return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to load state: %w", err)
			}

View on GitHub (pinned to d32a084675)