hashicorp/terraform · error

expected type of to be int

Error message

expected type of %s to be int

What it means

Thrown by the ValidateFunc for the 'session_expiration' field in the OSS backend schema when the value cannot be type-asserted to int. Since the field is declared as schema.TypeInt, the Terraform SDK should always deliver an int, making this a defensive guard against unexpected internal type mismatches.

Solutions

1. Ensure you are using a compatible version of Terraform/OpenTofu that aligns with this backend's SDK version.
2. If the value is coming from a variable, ensure the variable type is declared as number/integer, not string.
3. Report a bug if this triggers with a well-formed HCL configuration — it indicates an SDK-level type issue.

Example fix

// Ensure session_expiration is set as an integer in HCL:
terraform {
  backend "oss" {
    // before (string — should never parse this way with TypeInt)
    session_expiration = "3600"
    // after
    session_expiration = 3600
  }
}

// This is a ValidateFunc guard — pre-validation happens at Terraform's schema level.
// Ensure the HCL value is an integer:
// session_expiration = 3600  (correct)
// session_expiration = "3600" (may trigger type issues depending on SDK version)

// Type guard for programmatic access to schema validation
func isIntSessionExpiration(v interface{}) bool {
    _, ok := v.(int)
    return ok
}

When it happens

Trigger: The ValidateFunc receives v interface{} where v.(int) fails. With schema.TypeInt declared, this path is essentially unreachable through normal Terraform configuration parsing — it would require a bug in the Terraform core SDK or a programmatic schema injection with a wrong type.

Common situations: Effectively unreachable through normal HCL configuration. Could theoretically surface if a third-party tool or wrapper programmatically constructs the backend schema with incorrect types, or if there's a version mismatch between the OSS backend and the Terraform SDK.

Related errors

• expected to be in the range ( - ), got
• key can not start and end with '/'
• must be a valid ACL value , expected , or , got
• workspace_key_prefix must not start with '/' or './'
• architecture portion must not contain whitespace

AI-assisted analysis of hashicorp/terraform@d32a084675 (2026-08-11). Data as JSON: /api/errors/f864f4517e8f96c4. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at internal/backend/remote-state/oss/backend.go:75

					Optional:    true,
					Description: "The session name to use when assuming the role.",
					DefaultFunc: schema.MultiEnvDefaultFunc([]string{"ALICLOUD_ASSUME_ROLE_SESSION_NAME", "ALIBABA_CLOUD_ROLE_SESSION_NAME"}, ""),
				},
				"policy": {
					Type:        schema.TypeString,
					Optional:    true,
					Description: "The permissions applied when assuming a role. You cannot use this policy to grant permissions which exceed those of the role that is being assumed.",
				},
				"session_expiration": {
					Type:        schema.TypeInt,
					Optional:    true,
					Description: "The time after which the established session for assuming role expires.",
					ValidateFunc: func(v interface{}, k string) ([]string, []error) {
						min := 900
						max := 3600
						value, ok := v.(int)
						if !ok {
							return nil, []error{fmt.Errorf("expected type of %s to be int", k)}
						}

						if value < min || value > max {
							return nil, []error{fmt.Errorf("expected %s to be in the range (%d - %d), got %d", k, min, max, v)}
						}

						return nil, nil
					},
				},
			},
		},
	}
}

// New creates a new backend for OSS remote state.
func New() backend.Backend {
	s := &schema.Backend{
		Schema: map[string]*schema.Schema{

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