hashicorp/terraform · error

error loading plugin path: %s

Error message

error loading plugin path: %s

What it means

Thrown by `terraform state show` when c.loadPluginPath() returns an error. loadPluginPath reads the forced plugin directories file (.terraform/.terraformrc-relative plugin path marker, i.e. the file written by -plugin-dir) and returns an error if that file exists but cannot be read or fails to JSON-unmarshal. The %s is the underlying read/parse error.

Source

Thrown at internal/command/state_show.go:49

	// Parse and apply global view arguments
	common, args := arguments.ParseView(args)
	c.View.Configure(common)

	parsedArgs, diags := arguments.ParseStateShow(args)
	if diags.HasErrors() {
		c.View.Diagnostics(diags)
		c.View.HelpPrompt("state show")
		return 1
	}

	c.Meta.statePath = parsedArgs.StatePath
	c.viewType = parsedArgs.ViewType
	view := views.NewShow(parsedArgs.ViewType, c.View)

	// Check for user-supplied plugin path
	var err error
	if c.pluginPath, err = c.loadPluginPath(); err != nil {
		diags = diags.Append(fmt.Errorf("error loading plugin path: %s", err))
		view.Diagnostics(diags)
		return 1
	}

	// Load the backend
	b, diags := c.backend(".", c.viewType)
	if diags.HasErrors() {
		return view.DisplayResourceInstanceState(jsonformat.State{}, diags)
	}

	// We require a local backend
	local, ok := b.(backendrun.Local)
	if !ok {
		diags = diags.Append(ErrUnsupportedLocalOp)
		return view.DisplayResourceInstanceState(jsonformat.State{}, diags)
	}

	// This is a read-only command

View on GitHub (pinned to c9def3e214)

Solutions

1. Inspect .terraform for the forced plugin path file and validate it is a JSON array of strings.
2. If corrupt, delete it and re-run `terraform init` to regenerate, or clear forced dirs with `terraform init` without -plugin-dir.
3. Fix .terraform permissions so the current user can read it.
4. Re-run `terraform state show` after init succeeds.

Example fix

# before: corrupt forced plugin path file
terraform state show aws_instance.web
# error loading plugin path: invalid character...

# after
rm .terraform/.terraformrc_plugin_path   # remove corrupt marker
terraform init
terraform state show aws_instance.web

// before running state show, validate the forced plugin path file is sane.
func validateForcedPluginDirs(path string) error {
    raw, err := os.ReadFile(path)
    if os.IsNotExist(err) { return nil }
    if err != nil { return err }
    var dirs []string
    return json.Unmarshal(raw, &dirs)
}

When it happens

Trigger: Running `terraform state show <addr>` when .terraform's forced-plugin-dirs file (PluginPathFilename) exists but is unreadable (permissions) or contains invalid JSON (corrupt/truncated), via WorkingDir.ForcedPluginDirs().

Common situations: Corrupted forced plugin path file from an interrupted init; permissions change on .terraform/; editor or sync tool truncating the file; mismatched Terraform version writing a different format.

Related errors

• error loading plugin path: %s
• Failed to load state: %s
• Failed to marshal state to json: %s
• invalid syntax: %w
• No state file was found! State management commands require

AI-assisted analysis of hashicorp/terraform@c9def3e214 (2026-08-07). Data as JSON: /api/errors/428b506e02f7a96c. Report an issue: GitHub.