hashicorp/terraform · error

${protoResp.Error}

Error message

${protoResp.Error}

What it means

Thrown by GRPCProvisioner.Stop() (plugin v5 provisioner) when the Stop RPC returned no transport error but set a non-empty `Error` string. Mirrors the provider Stop path: a provisioner reports it could not cleanly interrupt/stop its operation during shutdown, and the raw message is wrapped in errors.New.

Source

Thrown at internal/plugin/grpc_provisioner.go:166

			break
		}

		if len(rcv.Diagnostics) > 0 {
			resp.Diagnostics = resp.Diagnostics.Append(convert.ProtoToDiagnostics(rcv.Diagnostics))
			break
		}
	}

	return resp
}

func (p *GRPCProvisioner) Stop() error {
	protoResp, err := p.client.Stop(p.ctx, &proto.Stop_Request{})
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}
	if protoResp.Error != "" {
		return errors.New(protoResp.Error)
	}
	return nil
}

func (p *GRPCProvisioner) Close() error {
	// check this since it's not automatically inserted during plugin creation
	if p.PluginClient == nil {
		logger.Debug("provisioner has no plugin.Client")
		return nil
	}

	p.PluginClient.Kill()
	return nil
}

View on GitHub (pinned to d32a084675)

Solutions

1. Let the provisioner's process finish or be cleaned up externally, then re-run.
2. Avoid interrupting provisioners mid-execution; design resources to be idempotent.
3. Migrate off provisioners to managed resources where possible.

Example fix

# before
$ terraform apply   # Ctrl-C during provisioner -> stop error

# after
# clean up the external process, then
$ terraform apply

# Go caller: log provisioner stop errors as warnings
if err := prov.Stop(); err != nil {
    log.Printf("warn: provisioner stop: %v", err)
}

When it happens

Trigger: Interrupting an apply/destroy while a provisioner is mid-execution, and the provisioner's stop handler reports a failure.

Common situations: A long-running local-exec or remote-exec provisioner killed mid-flight. A custom provisioner whose stop handler is buggy.

Related errors

• ${resp.Error}
• missing provisioner schema
• missing provider schema
• ${protoResp.Error.Text}
• ${resp.Error}

AI-assisted analysis of hashicorp/terraform@d32a084675 (2026-08-11). Data as JSON: /api/errors/d6da8de13970b763. Report an issue: GitHub.