invalid provider type %q in provider matching pattern %q: mu

Error message

invalid provider type %q in provider matching pattern %q: must either be the wildcard * or a provider type name

What it means

The provider type (the last segment) is normalized via normalizeProviderNameOrWildcard: it must be exactly "*" or pass addrs.ParseProviderPart (lowercase alphanumerics and hyphens, non-empty). Anything else yields this error, quoting the bad type and the full pattern.

Source

Thrown at internal/getproviders/multi_source.go:174

			givenHost := parts[0]
			if givenHost == "*" {
				host = svchost.Hostname(Wildcard)
			} else {
				normalHost, err := svchost.ForComparison(givenHost)
				if err != nil {
					return nil, fmt.Errorf("invalid hostname in provider matching pattern %q: %s", str, err)
				}

				// The remaining code below deals only with the namespace/type portions.
				host = normalHost
			}

			parts = parts[1:]
		}

		pType, err := normalizeProviderNameOrWildcard(parts[1])
		if err != nil {
			return nil, fmt.Errorf("invalid provider type %q in provider matching pattern %q: must either be the wildcard * or a provider type name", parts[1], str)
		}
		namespace, err := normalizeProviderNamespaceOrWildcard(parts[0])
		if err != nil {
			return nil, fmt.Errorf("invalid registry namespace %q in provider matching pattern %q: must either be the wildcard * or a literal namespace", parts[1], str)
		}

		ret[i] = addrs.Provider{
			Hostname:  host,
			Namespace: namespace,
			Type:      pType,
		}

		if ret[i].Hostname == svchost.Hostname(Wildcard) && !(ret[i].Namespace == Wildcard && ret[i].Type == Wildcard) {
			return nil, fmt.Errorf("invalid provider matching pattern %q: hostname can be a wildcard only if both namespace and provider type are also wildcards", str)
		}
		if ret[i].Namespace == Wildcard && ret[i].Type != Wildcard {
			return nil, fmt.Errorf("invalid provider matching pattern %q: namespace can be a wildcard only if the provider type is also a wildcard", str)
		}

View on GitHub (pinned to c9def3e214)

Solutions

Lowercase the provider type and use only letters, digits, and hyphens.
Use "*" to wildcard the type (then namespace must also be "*").
Remove any trailing slash that creates an empty final segment.

Example fix

# before
include = ["hashicorp/AWS"]

# after
include = ["hashicorp/aws"]

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

// Validate the provider type segment before parsing.
if t := parts[len(parts)-1]; t != "*" {
    if err := validateProviderPart(t); err != nil {
        return fmt.Errorf("provider type %q invalid: %w", t, err)
    }
}

Prevention

Lowercase provider types; use only letters, digits, hyphens.
Use "*" to wildcard the type (and namespace).
Strip trailing slashes to avoid empty type segments.

When it happens

Trigger: Pattern's final segment is invalid: uppercase letters ("hashicorp/AWS"), contains dots/underscores, is empty (trailing slash), or has characters ParseProviderPart rejects.

Common situations: Uppercase provider names pasted from marketing docs; provider name with disallowed punctuation; trailing slash producing an empty type segment.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of hashicorp/terraform@c9def3e214 (2026-08-07). Data as JSON: /api/errors/ebee7a8b70e48768. Report an issue: GitHub.