hashicorp/terraform · critical

unknown view type

Error message

unknown view type %v

What it means

This panic fires in NewShow when arguments.ViewType is neither ViewJSON nor ViewHuman. ViewType is `type ViewType rune`; the show switch has no case for ViewNone(0) or ViewRaw('R').

Solutions

1. In any code/test calling NewShow, set ViewType explicitly to arguments.ViewHuman or arguments.ViewJSON.
2. When adding a ViewType to arguments/types.go, add a case to views/show.go:43 and every sibling New* switch.
3. Cover the new case with show_test.go.

Example fix

// before
s := arguments.Show{} // ViewType == ViewNone
v := views.NewShow(s.ViewType, view)
// after
s := arguments.Show{ViewType: arguments.ViewHuman}
v := views.NewShow(s.ViewType, view)

switch vt {
case arguments.ViewHuman, arguments.ViewJSON:
  // ok
default:
  return fmt.Errorf("unsupported show view type: %v", vt)
}

func isValidShowViewType(vt arguments.ViewType) bool {
  return vt == arguments.ViewHuman || vt == arguments.ViewJSON
}

When it happens

Trigger: `terraform show` invoked with a ViewType the show constructor does not recognize: zero-value ViewType from code that skipped flag parsing, ViewRaw passed to show (not supported here), or a newly added enum value without a matching case.

Common situations: A test constructs ShowArgs with the default zero ViewType. A maintainer adds a ViewType and forgets to extend NewShow. End users cannot trigger it via flags.

Related errors

• unknown view type
• unknown view type
• unknown view type
• unknown view type
• unknown view type

AI-assisted analysis of hashicorp/terraform@d32a084675 (2026-08-11). Data as JSON: /api/errors/acefef3f138afce0. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at internal/command/views/show.go:43

type Show interface {
	// Display renders the plan, if it is available. If plan is nil, it renders the statefile.
	Display(config *configs.Config, plan *plans.Plan, planJSON *cloudplan.RemotePlanJSON, stateFile *statefile.File, schemas *terraform.Schemas) int

	// Diagnostics renders early diagnostics, resulting from argument parsing.
	Diagnostics(diags tfdiags.Diagnostics)

	// DisplayResourceInstanceState displays the state for a single resource instance. Diagnostics from the state show command are included in the json output.
	DisplayResourceInstanceState(jsonformat.State, tfdiags.Diagnostics) int
}

func NewShow(vt arguments.ViewType, view *View) Show {
	switch vt {
	case arguments.ViewJSON:
		return &ShowJSON{view: view}
	case arguments.ViewHuman:
		return &ShowHuman{view: view}
	default:
		panic(fmt.Sprintf("unknown view type %v", vt))
	}
}

type ShowHuman struct {
	view *View
}

var _ Show = (*ShowHuman)(nil)

func (v *ShowHuman) DisplayResourceInstanceState(state jsonformat.State, diags tfdiags.Diagnostics) int {
	renderer := jsonformat.Renderer{
		Streams:             v.view.streams,
		Colorize:            v.view.colorize,
		RunningInAutomation: v.view.runningInAutomation,
	}

	if diags.HasErrors() {
		v.Diagnostics(diags)

View on GitHub (pinned to d32a084675)