pulumi/pulumi · error

create plugin host: %w

Error message

create plugin host: %w

What it means

`pulumi import` starts a plugin host via `pkghost.New` (wired with language install, schema loader, conversion mapper, and package resolver servers). If host construction fails — bad workspace/project state, missing plugin infrastructure, or internal RPC server startup errors — the error is wrapped as 'create plugin host' and the import aborts before touching state.

Source

Thrown at pkg/cmd/pulumi/operations/import.go:911

			if from == "terraform" && importFilePath == "" && proj.Runtime.Name() == "hcl" {
				return errors.New("`pulumi import --from terraform` will produce state that doesn't line up " +
					"with Pulumi's HCL runtime.\nYou should run `pulumi import --from hcl` instead.")
			}

			ssml := cmdStack.NewStackSecretsManagerLoaderFromEnv()

			cwd, err := os.Getwd()
			if err != nil {
				return fmt.Errorf("get working directory: %w", err)
			}
			sink := cmdutil.Diag()
			reg := cmdCmd.NewDefaultRegistry(ctx, cmdBackend.DefaultLoginManager, ws, proj, sink, env.Global())
			pluginHost, err := pkghost.New(context.WithoutCancel(ctx), sink, sink, nil,
				pkgWorkspace.EnsureLanguageInstalled, schema.NewLoaderServerFromContext, convert.NewMapperServerFromContext,
				packageworkspace.NewResolverServer(reg))
			if err != nil {
				return fmt.Errorf("create plugin host: %w", err)
			}
			// host is owned here, closed after the context
			defer contract.IgnoreClose(pluginHost)
			pCtx, err := plugin.NewContext(ctx, sink, sink, pluginHost, nil, cwd, nil, true, nil)
			if err != nil {
				return fmt.Errorf("create plugin context: %w", err)
			}
			defer contract.IgnoreClose(pCtx)

			var importFile importFile
			if importFilePath != "" {
				if len(args) != 0 || parentSpec != "" || providerSpec != "" || len(properties) != 0 {
					contract.IgnoreError(cmd.Help())
					return errors.New("an inline resource may not be specified in conjunction with an import file")
				}
				if from != "" {
					contract.IgnoreError(cmd.Help())
					return errors.New("a converter may not be specified in conjunction with an import file")

View on GitHub (pinned to 793f7b2e16)

Solutions

1. Read the wrapped inner error for the root cause and fix that first
2. Clear/reinstall plugins: `pulumi plugin rm --all` then re-run so plugins are fetched fresh
3. Ensure `PULUMI_HOME`/PATH point to a valid install; retry after upgrading the CLI

Example fix

// before
# corrupted plugin cache
pulumi import ...
// after
pulumi plugin rm --all && pulumi import ...

// Verify plugin cache and CLI health before import
exec.Command("pulumi", "plugin", "ls").Run()
exec.Command("pulumi", "about").Run()

// Go: catch host creation failure and retry after plugin cleanup
err := runImport()
if err != nil && strings.Contains(err.Error(), "create plugin host") {
    exec.Command("pulumi", "plugin", "rm", "--all").Run()
    err = runImport()
}

When it happens

Trigger: `pulumi import` invocation where `pkghost.New` returns an error: e.g. failure launching the host, resolver/registry misconfiguration, or failures initializing gRPC servers for schema loading or conversion.

Common situations: Corrupted plugin cache (`~/.pulumi/plugins`); incompatible or broken provider binaries; PATH/PULUMI_HOME misconfiguration; version mismatch between CLI and plugins after an upgrade.

Related errors

• building plugin host: %w
• installing `packages` from PulumiPlugin.yaml: %w
• load language plugin %s: %w
• create plugin context: %w
• get mapping: %w

AI-assisted analysis of pulumi/pulumi@793f7b2e16 (2026-08-31). Data as JSON: /api/errors/9c5db5b599d1a6da. Report an issue: GitHub.