What causes "There is no configuration directory at %s" in hashicorp/terraform?

Verify the path exists and is spelled correctly: `ls ` before running fmt.

There is no configuration directory at %s

Error message

There is no configuration directory at %s

What it means

Emitted by terraform fmt's processDir when os.ReadDir reports the target path does not exist (os.IsNotExist). It is a user-facing simplification because the raw ReadDir error is not end-user appropriate. The %s is the normalized path argument passed to `terraform fmt`. The command continues processing other paths but records this diagnostic.

Source

Thrown at internal/command/fmt.go:239

		_, err = w.Write(result)
		if err != nil {
			diags = diags.Append(fmt.Errorf("Failed to write result"))
		}
	}

	return diags
}

func (c *FmtCommand) processDir(path string, stdout io.Writer) tfdiags.Diagnostics {
	var diags tfdiags.Diagnostics

	log.Printf("[TRACE] terraform fmt: looking for files in %s", path)

	entries, err := os.ReadDir(path)
	if err != nil {
		switch {
		case os.IsNotExist(err):
			diags = diags.Append(fmt.Errorf("There is no configuration directory at %s", path))
		default:
			// ReadDir does not produce error messages that are end-user-appropriate,
			// so we'll need to simplify here.
			diags = diags.Append(fmt.Errorf("Cannot read directory %s", path))
		}
		return diags
	}

	for _, info := range entries {
		name := info.Name()
		if configs.IsIgnoredFile(name) {
			continue
		}
		subPath := filepath.Join(path, name)
		if info.IsDir() {
			if c.recursive {
				subDiags := c.processDir(subPath, stdout)
				diags = diags.Append(subDiags)

View on GitHub (pinned to c9def3e214)

Solutions

Verify the path exists and is spelled correctly: `ls <dir>` before running fmt.
Omit the argument to operate on the current directory (`terraform fmt`) which always exists.
In scripts, guard with a check: `[ -d "$DIR" ] && terraform fmt "$DIR"`.
Fix the working directory / variable expansion that produced the bogus path.

Example fix

# before
$ terraform fmt ./moodules
# after
$ terraform fmt ./modules

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

// Verify the directory exists before calling terraform fmt on it.
if info, err := os.Stat(dir); err != nil || !info.IsDir() {
    return fmt.Errorf("refusing to fmt: %q is not an existing directory", dir)
}

Prevention

Always resolve fmt path arguments against a known working directory.
In scripts, guard with `[ -d "$DIR" ]` before invoking terraform fmt.
Default to running `terraform fmt` with no argument (current dir) to avoid path typos.

When it happens

Trigger: Invoking `terraform fmt <dir>` or `terraform fmt -recursive <dir>` where <dir> does not exist on disk. Also when a relative path resolves against an unexpected working directory (e.g. running fmt from the wrong cwd, a typo in the path, or a path to a directory that was deleted).

Common situations: Typos in the directory argument; running `terraform fmt ./moodules` instead of `./modules`. CI jobs that cd into a non-existent directory before invoking fmt. Scripts that build the path from an unset variable, yielding an empty/missing segment. Renaming a module directory without updating the fmt script.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of hashicorp/terraform@c9def3e214 (2026-08-07). Data as JSON: /api/errors/757e8d7d5a1d51a4. Report an issue: GitHub.