hashicorp/vagrant · error · VagrantPlugins::Chef::Provisioner::Base::ChefError

Chef never successfully completed! Any errors should be visi

Error message

Chef never successfully completed! Any errors should be visible in the
output above. Please fix your recipes so that they properly complete.

What it means

Raised at the end of run_chef_client: Vagrant streams `chef-client` output live, treats exit 259 as 'chef requested a reboot' (waits and re-runs), returns immediately on exit 0, and re-runs up to `@config.attempts` times. If no attempt exits 0, no_convergence is raised - meaning the Chef run itself failed (recipe/dependency/server errors) and the details are in the output already printed. This error never appears without accompanying Chef output above it.

Source

Thrown at plugins/provisioners/chef/provisioner/chef_client.rb:118

              opts = { error_check: false, elevated: true }
              exit_status = @machine.communicate.sudo(command, opts) do |type, data|
                # Output the data with the proper color based on the stream.
                color = type == :stdout ? :green : :red

                data = data.chomp
                next if data.empty?

                @machine.ui.info(data, color: color)
              end

              # There is no need to run Chef again if it converges
              return if exit_status == 0
            end
          end

          # If we reached this point then Chef never converged! Error.
          raise ChefError, :no_convergence
        end

        def validation_key_path
          File.expand_path(@config.validation_key_path, @machine.env.root_path)
        end

        def guest_client_key_path
          if !@config.client_key_path.nil?
            return @config.client_key_path
          end

          if windows?
            "C:/chef/client.pem"
          else
            "/etc/chef/client.pem"
          end
        end

View on GitHub (pinned to 35f3160f4a)

Solutions

Read the streamed chef-client output above the error - look for the first 'Error Resolving Exception' / resource failure
Fix the failing recipe/dependency in the run_list, or correct `chef.run_list` / `chef.environment` in the Vagrantfile
For transient issues, allow retries: `chef.attempts = 3`
If output shows 401/403, fix the validation key / validation_client_name / chef_server_url trio

Example fix

# Vagrantfile - before
config.vm.provision "chef_client" do |chef|
  chef.run_list = ["recipe[myapp::install]"]
end

# Vagrantfile - after
config.vm.provision "chef_client" do |chef|
  chef.run_list = ["recipe[myapp::install]"]
  chef.attempts = 3  # retry flaky convergence instead of failing on first run
end

Defensive patterns

Strategy: retry

Try / catch

attempts = 0
begin
  env.cli(%w[provision])
rescue Vagrant::Errors::VagrantError => e
  attempts += 1
  if e.to_s.include?("never successfully completed") && attempts < 3
    sleep 30
    retry
  end
  raise
end

Prevention

Set chef.attempts = 3 so Vagrant retries convergence for transient recipe failures
Run `knife cookbook test` / `cookstyle` on cookbooks before provisioning
Watch the streamed chef-client output on failure - the first resource error is the real cause, not the raise

When it happens

Trigger: chef-client exiting non-zero on every one of `config.attempts` runs: failed resources, missing cookbooks/roles on the server, node registration (401/403 against chef_server_url), sandboxed reboot loops exiting 259 repeatedly, or recipe compile errors.

Common situations: Broken or untested cookbooks in the run_list; wrong run_list/environment in the Vagrantfile; validation key rejected by the server (401); node name collision; guest clock skew breaking TLS/auth; `attempts` left at default 1 for flaky recipes.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of hashicorp/vagrant@35f3160f4a (2026-08-21). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e02294290069e973. Report an issue: GitHub.