hashicorp/terraform · error

empty state name

Error message

empty state name

What it means

A parent block is marked Computed but a nested child block type within it is not Computed. Terraform requires that once a block is provider-computed, every nested block inside it must also be computed, so the whole subtree is provider-managed and no user-configured children leak in.

Solutions

1. Set Computed: true on every nested block type inside the computed parent block.
2. If the child genuinely must be user-configurable, set the parent block's Computed: false.
3. Validate the whole subtree recursively with InternalValidate in a provider unit test.

Example fix

// before
Block: configschema.Block{
  Computed: true,
  BlockTypes: map[string]*configschema.NestedBlock{
    "child": { Nesting: configschema.NestingList }, // Computed missing
  },
},
// after
Block: configschema.Block{
  Computed: true,
  BlockTypes: map[string]*configschema.NestedBlock{
    "child": { Nesting: configschema.NestingList, Block: configschema.Block{Computed: true} },
  },
},

// Propagate Computed to all nested block types when the parent is Computed.
func cascadeComputed(b *configschema.Block) {
    if b == nil || !b.Computed { return }
    for _, nb := range b.BlockTypes {
        nb.Computed = true
        cascadeComputed(&nb.Block)
    }
}

// allNestedComputed reports whether every child block type is computed.
func allNestedComputed(b *configschema.Block) bool {
    if b == nil { return true }
    for _, nb := range b.BlockTypes {
        if !nb.Computed { return false }
    }
    return true
}

When it happens

Trigger: Outer Block has Computed: true and a BlockTypes entry whose NestedBlock.Computed is false. The guard at internal_validate.go:69 is `b.Computed && !blockS.Computed`.

Common situations: Converting a user-configurable block into a computed one and forgetting to cascade Computed down to its child block types; mixing a computed datasource block with a user-settable child block.

Related errors

• invalid lock id
• invalid md5
• invalid md5
• lost consul lock, cannot re-lock
• the state is already locked by another terraform client

AI-assisted analysis of hashicorp/terraform@d32a084675 (2026-08-11). Data as JSON: /api/errors/be354295f38283c2. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at internal/backend/local/backend.go:244

	sort.Strings(listed)
	envs = append(envs, listed...)

	return envs, diags
}

// DeleteWorkspace removes a workspace.
//
// The "default" workspace cannot be removed.
func (b *Local) DeleteWorkspace(name string, force bool) tfdiags.Diagnostics {
	var diags tfdiags.Diagnostics

	// If we have a backend handling state, defer to that.
	if b.Backend != nil {
		return b.Backend.DeleteWorkspace(name, force)
	}

	if name == "" {
		return diags.Append(errors.New("empty state name"))
	}

	if name == backend.DefaultStateName {
		return diags.Append(errors.New("cannot delete default state"))
	}

	delete(b.states, name)
	err := os.RemoveAll(filepath.Join(b.stateWorkspaceDir(), name))
	if err != nil {
		return diags.Append(fmt.Errorf("error deleting workspace %s: %w", name, err))
	}

	return diags
}

func (b *Local) StateMgr(name string) (statemgr.Full, tfdiags.Diagnostics) {
	var diags tfdiags.Diagnostics

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