hashicorp/terraform · error

error in marshaling deferred action invocations

Error message

error in marshaling deferred action invocations: %s

What it means

Top-level propagation error from Marshal: MarshalDeferredActionInvocations failed on p.DeferredActionInvocations. This delegates to the same per-action marshaling logic as non-deferred invocations (errors 602–607).

Solutions

1. Read the wrapped error — it is typically one of 602–607 applied to a deferred invocation.
2. Re-init providers and regenerate the plan.
3. Align Terraform and provider versions.
4. Remove deferred action blocks whose providers no longer support them.

if _, err := MarshalDeferredActionInvocations(p.DeferredActionInvocations, schemas); err != nil {
    return err // wrapped error is one of 602–607 for the deferred action
}

When it happens

Trigger: A deferred action invocation triggers any of the per-action failures: missing schema, decode failure, unsupported trigger type, ephemeral or unsupported marks.

Common situations: Deferred actions referencing action types/providers not initialized; version skew between plan and renderer.

Related errors

• error in marshaling deferred resource changes
• error marshaling action invocations
• failed to decode action
• action has config values with unsupported marks
• action has ephemeral config values, which are not supported…

AI-assisted analysis of hashicorp/terraform@d32a084675 (2026-08-11). Data as JSON: /api/errors/72565528fee45747. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at internal/command/jsonplan/plan.go:319

	// output.ResourceChanges
	if p.Changes != nil {
		output.ResourceChanges, err = MarshalResourceChanges(p.Changes.Resources, schemas)
		if err != nil {
			return nil, fmt.Errorf("error in marshaling resource changes: %s", err)
		}
	}

	if p.DeferredResources != nil {
		output.DeferredChanges, err = MarshalDeferredResourceChanges(p.DeferredResources, schemas)
		if err != nil {
			return nil, fmt.Errorf("error in marshaling deferred resource changes: %s", err)
		}
	}

	if p.DeferredActionInvocations != nil {
		output.DeferredActionInvocations, err = MarshalDeferredActionInvocations(p.DeferredActionInvocations, schemas)
		if err != nil {
			return nil, fmt.Errorf("error in marshaling deferred action invocations: %s", err)
		}
	}

	// output.OutputChanges
	if output.OutputChanges, err = MarshalOutputChanges(p.Changes); err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("error in marshaling output changes: %s", err)
	}

	// output.Checks
	if p.Checks != nil && p.Checks.ConfigResults.Len() > 0 {
		output.Checks = jsonchecks.MarshalCheckStates(p.Checks)
	}

	// output.PriorState
	if sf != nil && !sf.State.Empty() {
		output.PriorState, err = jsonstate.Marshal(sf, schemas)
		if err != nil {
			return nil, fmt.Errorf("error marshaling prior state: %s", err)

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