hashicorp/terraform · error

Error checking configuration: %s

Error message

Error checking configuration: %s

What it means

Emitted by InitCommand.run when configs.IsEmptyDir(path, testsDir) errors while checking whether the working directory contains any configuration (init_run.go:106-108). This check gates the rest of init: if it cannot determine emptiness, init aborts before loading config. The %s is the underlying IsEmptyDir error.

Source

Thrown at internal/command/init_run.go:108

		initDirFromModuleAbort, initDirFromModuleDiags := c.initDirFromModule(ctx, path, src, hooks)
		diags = diags.Append(initDirFromModuleDiags)
		if initDirFromModuleAbort || initDirFromModuleDiags.HasErrors() {
			view.Diagnostics(diags)
			span.SetStatus(codes.Error, "module installation failed")
			span.End()
			return 1
		}
		span.End()

		view.Spacer()
	}

	// If our directory is empty, then we're done. We can't get or set up
	// the backend with an empty directory.
	empty, err := configs.IsEmptyDir(path, initArgs.TestsDirectory)
	if err != nil {
		diags = diags.Append(fmt.Errorf("Error checking configuration: %s", err))
		view.Diagnostics(diags)
		return 1
	}
	if empty {
		view.Output(views.OutputInitEmptyMessage)
		return 0
	}

	// Load just the root module to begin backend and module initialization
	rootModEarly, earlyConfDiags := c.loadSingleModuleWithTests(path, initArgs.TestsDirectory)

	// There may be parsing errors in config loading but these will be shown later _after_
	// checking for core version requirement errors. Not meeting the version requirement should
	// be the first error displayed if that is an issue, but other operations are required
	// before being able to check core version requirements.
	if rootModEarly == nil {
		diags = diags.Append(errors.New(errInitConfigError), earlyConfDiags)
		view.Diagnostics(diags)

View on GitHub (pinned to c9def3e214)

Solutions

1. Make the working directory (and any -test-directory) readable+traversable by the terraform user.
2. Fix or remove broken symlinks and stale .terraform artifacts.
3. Confirm the test directory passed to -test-directory exists and is readable.
4. Restore the underlying filesystem to a healthy state and retry init.

Example fix

# before
$ terraform init   # cwd not stat-able
# after
$ chmod a+rx .
$ terraform init

// Confirm the working dir and test dir are stat-able before init.
for _, d := range []string{wd, testDir} {
    if _, err := os.Stat(d); err != nil {
        return fmt.Errorf("cannot stat %q: %w", d, err)
    }
}

When it happens

Trigger: Running `terraform init` in a working directory that exists but where Terraform cannot walk/stat its contents: permission denied on the dir or a child entry, I/O errors, broken symlinks, or the test directory argument (-test-directory) points somewhere unreadable.

Common situations: Read-only or foreign-owned working directories; .terraform/.tftest directories created by root; corporate mount permission issues; full/ failing disks; misconfigured -test-directory pointing at an inaccessible path.

Related errors

• Error saving -plugin-dir to workspace directory: %s
• Error validating destination directory: %s
• error deleting workspace %s: %w
• cannot create temporary file to update credentials: %s
• could not write lock info for %q: %s

AI-assisted analysis of hashicorp/terraform@c9def3e214 (2026-08-07). Data as JSON: /api/errors/a03665aa88210eac. Report an issue: GitHub.