hashicorp/terraform · critical

found unrecognized test status:

Error message

found unrecognized test status: 

What it means

Internal panic in the cloud (TFC/E) test-result mapping: the TFE API returned a run.TestStatus value that has no case in the switch (Error/Fail/Pass/Pending/Skip). Because the default branch only panics, an unrecognized status string crashes the process. This indicates the API returned a new status value the client does not yet know about.

Source

Thrown at internal/cloud/test.go:317

	}

	// Otherwise the run has finished successfully, and we can look at the
	// actual status of the test instead of the run to figure out what status we
	// should return.

	switch run.TestStatus {
	case tfe.TestError:
		return moduletest.Error, diags
	case tfe.TestFail:
		return moduletest.Fail, diags
	case tfe.TestPass:
		return moduletest.Pass, diags
	case tfe.TestPending:
		return moduletest.Pending, diags
	case tfe.TestSkip:
		return moduletest.Skip, diags
	default:
		panic("found unrecognized test status: " + run.TestStatus)
	}
}

// discover the TFC/E API service URL
func discoverTfeURL(hostname svchost.Hostname, services *disco.Disco) (*url.URL, error) {
	host, err := services.Discover(hostname)
	if err != nil {
		var serviceDiscoErr *disco.ErrServiceDiscoveryNetworkRequest

		switch {
		case errors.As(err, &serviceDiscoErr):
			err = fmt.Errorf("a network issue prevented cloud configuration; %w", err)
			return nil, err
		default:
			return nil, err
		}
	}

View on GitHub (pinned to d32a084675)

Solutions

1. Upgrade the Terraform CLI to a version that recognises the new test status.
2. Downgrade/align the TFC/E server version with the CLI.
3. Report the unrecognized status string to the Terraform maintainers so the switch can be extended.

Example fix

// before (library code)
default:
    panic("found unrecognized test status: " + run.TestStatus)

// after (defensive)
default:
    return moduletest.Error, diags.Append(fmt.Errorf("unrecognized test status %q; upgrade terraform", run.TestStatus))

// Defensive version of the status switch
defer func() {
    if r := recover(); r != nil {
        status = moduletest.Error
        diags = diags.Append(fmt.Errorf("recovered from unrecognized test status: %v", r))
    }
}()

When it happens

Trigger: Polling test run results from TFC/E when the server sends a TestStatus string outside the known set (e.g. a newly introduced status like 'queued' or 'running' added in a newer TFE release).

Common situations: Terraform CLI version older than the TFC/E server which added a new test status, or running against a TFE instance with experimental features.

Related errors

• your version of Terraform Enterprise does not support key-va
• unsupported protocol version
• approved using the UI or API
• discarded using the UI or API
• operation timed out

AI-assisted analysis of hashicorp/terraform@d32a084675 (2026-08-11). Data as JSON: /api/errors/c508c2eca02d5789. Report an issue: GitHub.