opentofu/opentofu · error

cannot delete default state

Error message

cannot delete default state

What it means

Returned by (*local.Local).DeleteWorkspace in internal/backend/local/backend.go when asked to delete the workspace named backend.DefaultStateName ("default"). The default workspace is structural: it always exists and holds terraform.tfstate, so the backend refuses to remove it by design (see the doc comment 'The "default" workspace cannot be removed').

Source

Thrown at internal/backend/local/backend.go:242

	return envs, nil
}

// DeleteWorkspace removes a workspace.
//
// The "default" workspace cannot be removed.
func (b *Local) DeleteWorkspace(ctx context.Context, name string, force bool) error {
	// If we have a backend handling state, defer to that.
	if b.Backend != nil {
		return b.Backend.DeleteWorkspace(ctx, name, force)
	}

	if name == "" {
		return errors.New("empty state name")
	}

	if name == backend.DefaultStateName {
		return errors.New("cannot delete default state")
	}

	delete(b.states, name)
	return os.RemoveAll(filepath.Join(b.stateWorkspaceDir(), name))
}

func (b *Local) StateMgr(ctx context.Context, name string) (statemgr.Full, error) {
	// If we have a backend handling state, delegate to that.
	if b.Backend != nil {
		return b.Backend.StateMgr(ctx, name)
	}

	if s, ok := b.states[name]; ok {
		return s, nil
	}

	if err := b.createState(name); err != nil {
		return nil, err

View on GitHub (pinned to 3561785c48)

Solutions

1. Skip the default workspace in deletion loops (delete every name except "default")
2. To reset the default workspace's contents, run `tofu destroy` instead of deleting the workspace
3. To discard state entirely, remove/backup terraform.tfstate on disk manually rather than via workspace delete

Example fix

# before
for ws in $(tofu workspace list | tr -d '* '); do tofu workspace delete "$ws"; done

# after
for ws in $(tofu workspace list | tr -d '* '); do
  [ "$ws" = "default" ] && continue
  tofu workspace delete "$ws"
done

if name == backend.DefaultStateName {
    // default workspace cannot be deleted; skip or refuse early
    return fmt.Errorf("refusing to delete the default workspace")
}
err := b.DeleteWorkspace(ctx, name, force)

if err := b.DeleteWorkspace(ctx, name, force); err != nil {
    if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "cannot delete default state") {
        // expected guard: exclude 'default' from deletion loops
    }
}

When it happens

Trigger: Executing `tofu workspace delete default` against a local/filesystem backend, or calling DeleteWorkspace(ctx, backend.DefaultStateName, force) programmatically; the force flag does not bypass the check.

Common situations: Cleanup scripts that try to delete every workspace returned by `tofu workspace list`; scripts assuming all workspaces are deletable; attempts to reset state by deleting the default workspace.

Related errors

• empty state name
• missing state name
• unsupported operation type: %s This is a bug in OpenTofu an
• failed to append certs
• the secret name %v is invalid, %s This is a requirement for

AI-assisted analysis of opentofu/opentofu@3561785c48 (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/5fd1a0d9e701f2ef. Report an issue: GitHub.