pulumi/pulumi · error

--checksum is only valid if a specific package is being inst

Error message

--checksum is only valid if a specific package is being installed

What it means

Like --file, the `--checksum` flag is only meaningful when installing one specific plugin; in bulk (no-argument) mode there is no single artifact to verify, so the CLI returns this error when --checksum is set without plugin arguments.

Source

Thrown at pkg/cmd/pulumi/plugin/plugin_install.go:260

					return err
				}
				pluginSpec = updatedSpec
			}
		} else if version == nil && pluginSpec.Version == nil {
			// If we don't have a version try to look one up
			latestVersion, err := cmd.pluginGetLatestVersion(pluginSpec, ctx)
			if err != nil {
				return err
			}
			pluginSpec.Version = latestVersion
		}
		installs = append(installs, pluginSpec)
	} else {
		if cmd.file != "" {
			return errors.New("--file (-f) is only valid if a specific package is being installed")
		}
		if cmd.checksum != "" {
			return errors.New("--checksum is only valid if a specific package is being installed")
		}

		// If a specific plugin wasn't given, compute the set of plugins the current project needs.
		plugins, err := getProjectPlugins(ctx)
		if err != nil {
			return err
		}
		for _, plugin := range plugins {
			// TODO[pulumi/pulumi#956]: eventually we will want to honor and
			// install all plugins in the usual way.
			if !workspace.IsPluginBundled(plugin.Kind, plugin.Name) {
				installs = append(installs, plugin)
			}
		}
	}

	// Now for each kind, name, version pair, download it from the release website, and install it.
	bars := progress.NewGroup(cmd.stderr)

View on GitHub (pinned to 793f7b2e16)

Solutions

1. Name the specific plugin along with --checksum: pulumi plugin install resource <name> <version> --checksum <hex>
2. If you want to install all project plugins, remove the --checksum flag
3. To verify every project plugin, rely on the checksums recorded in the project's package specs instead

Example fix

// before
$ pulumi plugin install --checksum abc123...
// after
$ pulumi plugin install resource myprovider 1.2.3 --checksum abc123...

if (useChecksumFlag && !explicitPluginArgs) {
  throw new Error('--checksum requires an explicit plugin: pulumi plugin install <kind> <name> <version> --checksum <hex>');
}

When it happens

Trigger: Running `pulumi plugin install --checksum <hexdigest>` (or `pulumi plugin install --checksum ... ` with no kind/name args) to install all project plugins.

Common situations: Adding --checksum to a shared install script that installs all project plugins; copy-pasting a single-plugin checksum command into a bulk install context.

Related errors

• missing plugin version argument, this is required if install
• cannot specify both "@%s" and "%s" as a version
• --file (-f) is only valid if a specific package is being ins
• no environment name specified
• the provider command does not accept versions

AI-assisted analysis of pulumi/pulumi@793f7b2e16 (2026-08-31). Data as JSON: /api/errors/5df82854443bcb17. Report an issue: GitHub.