kubernetes/kops · error

cloud provider %v does not support the terraform target

Error message

cloud provider %v does not support the terraform target

What it means

ApplyClusterCmd.Run validates that the selected --target=terraform is supported by the cluster's cloud provider. Only providers in TerraformCloudProviders (AWS, Azure, GCE, Hetzner, etc.) implement the terraform target; otherwise Run returns 'cloud provider %v does not support the terraform target'.

Source

Thrown at upup/pkg/fi/cloudup/apply_cluster.go:166

}

// ApplyResults holds information about an ApplyClusterCmd operation.
type ApplyResults struct {
	// AssetBuilder holds the initialized AssetBuilder, listing all the image and file assets.
	AssetBuilder *assets.AssetBuilder
}

func (c *ApplyClusterCmd) Run(ctx context.Context) (*ApplyResults, error) {
	if c.TargetName == TargetTerraform {
		found := false
		for _, cp := range TerraformCloudProviders {
			if c.Cloud.ProviderID() == cp {
				found = true
				break
			}
		}
		if !found {
			return nil, fmt.Errorf("cloud provider %v does not support the terraform target", c.Cloud.ProviderID())
		}
		if c.Cloud.ProviderID() == kops.CloudProviderAzure && !featureflag.AzureTerraform.Enabled() {
			return nil, fmt.Errorf("cloud provider Azure requires the AzureTerraform feature flag to enable the terraform target")
		}
		if c.Cloud.ProviderID() == kops.CloudProviderDO && !featureflag.DOTerraform.Enabled() {
			return nil, fmt.Errorf("cloud provider DigitalOcean requires the DOTerraform feature flag to enable the terraform target")
		}
	}
	if c.InstanceGroups == nil {
		list, err := c.Clientset.InstanceGroupsFor(c.Cluster).List(ctx, metav1.ListOptions{})
		if err != nil {
			return nil, err
		}
		var instanceGroups []*kops.InstanceGroup
		for i := range list.Items {
			instanceGroups = append(instanceGroups, &list.Items[i])
		}
		c.InstanceGroups = instanceGroups

View on GitHub (pinned to 4c8573c808)

Solutions

1. Use --target=direct (default) or --target=dry-run for unsupported providers
2. Check `grep TerraformCloudProviders` in your kOps version to confirm support; upgrade kOps if the provider recently gained terraform support
3. For DigitalOcean, enable the DOTerraform feature flag: `export KOPS_FEATURE_FLAGS=DOTerraform`
4. For Azure, enable the AzureTerraform feature flag (see next error) — this error precedes that check only for truly unsupported providers

Example fix

// before
kops update cluster mycluster --target=terraform --yes
// after (unsupported provider: use direct target)
kops update cluster mycluster --target=direct --yes
# or with kOps version that supports DO terraform:
export KOPS_FEATURE_FLAGS=DOTerraform && kops update cluster mycluster --target=terraform

// check provider support before invoking update
supported := map[kops.CloudProviderID]bool{
	kops.CloudProviderAWS: true, kops.CloudProviderGCE: true,
	kops.CloudProviderAzure: true, kops.CloudProviderHetzner: true,
}
if target == "terraform" && !supported[providerID] {
	return fmt.Errorf("provider %s has no terraform target; use --target=direct", providerID)
}

func terraformSupported(id kops.CloudProviderID) bool {
	for _, cp := range cloudup.TerraformCloudProviders {
		if cp == id { return true }
	}
	return false
}

out, err := run("kops", "update", "cluster", "--target=terraform", "--yes")
if err != nil && strings.Contains(err.Error(), "does not support the terraform target") {
	return run("kops", "update", "cluster", "--target=direct", "--yes")
}

When it happens

Trigger: Running `kops update cluster --target=terraform` on a cluster whose cloudProvider is not in TerraformCloudProviders — e.g. DigitalOcean (without its flag it still fails only at the next check; unsupported ones like OpenStack, Metal, or Alibaba hit this error directly).

Common situations: Switching a cluster definition to a provider lacking terraform support while CI pipelines still run with --target=terraform; older kOps versions where the provider was not yet added to TerraformCloudProviders; typo'd/unsupported cloudProvider in the cluster spec.

Related errors

• reconcile is not supported with terraform
• cloud provider Azure requires the AzureTerraform feature fla
• cloud provider DigitalOcean requires the DOTerraform feature
• pass in the cloud provider explicitly using --cloud: %w
• DNS not implemented on azureCloud

AI-assisted analysis of kubernetes/kops@4c8573c808 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/44248264a35a817c. Report an issue: GitHub.