pulumi/pulumi · error

load provider: %w

Error message

load provider: %w

What it means

pluginFromSource loads the provider plugin named by the first package argument (e.g. "terraform-provider@5.0.0"). Failure typically means the plugin binary is not installed, cannot be downloaded, or crashed during startup; the error is wrapped as "load provider".

Source

Thrown at pkg/cmd/pulumi/do/do.go:200

		host, err := newHost(ctx, diagFwd, statusFwd)
		if err != nil {
			return nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("create plugin host: %w", err)
		}

		pctx, err := plugin.NewContext(
			ctx, diagFwd, statusFwd, host, nil, wd, nil, false,
			nil)
		if err != nil {
			contract.IgnoreClose(host)
			return nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("create plugin context: %w", err)
		}

		p, err := pluginFromSource(ctx, pctx, wd, pkgargs[0])
		if err != nil {
			// Close the plugin context we opened above since we're not returning it to the caller.
			contract.IgnoreClose(pctx)
			contract.IgnoreClose(host)
			return nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("load provider: %w", err)
		}
		cleanup := func() {
			contract.IgnoreClose(p)
			contract.IgnoreClose(pctx)
			// host is owned here, closed after the context
			contract.IgnoreClose(host)
		}

		// Parse "name@version" out of pkgargs[0] so we can also describe the package to downstream consumers
		// (such as snippet converters) in the form the codegen loader expects.
		pkgName := pkgargs[0]
		var pkgVersion string
		if at := strings.Index(pkgName, "@"); at != -1 {
			pkgVersion = pkgName[at+1:]
			pkgName = pkgName[:at]
		}
		packageDescriptor := &codegenrpc.GetSchemaRequest{
			Package: pkgName,

View on GitHub (pinned to 793f7b2e16)

Solutions

1. Install the plugin explicitly: `pulumi plugin install resource <name> <version>`.
2. Check network access to the plugin registry (or configure an offline mirror).
3. Verify the package name spelling in --package / the token.
4. Remove the cached plugin and reinstall: `pulumi plugin rm <name>` then retry.

Example fix

// before
pulumi do --package terraform-provider  // not installed
// after
pulumi plugin install resource terraform-provider 5.0.0
pulumi do --package terraform-provider@5.0.0

pulumi plugin ls | grep -q "$provider" || pulumi plugin install resource "$provider" "$version"

p, err := pluginFromSource(ctx, pctx, wd, pkgName)
if err != nil {
    contract.IgnoreClose(pctx)
    contract.IgnoreClose(host)
    return nil, fmt.Errorf("load provider: %w", err)
}

When it happens

Trigger: Running `pulumi do --package <name>` where the provider plugin is not installed (`pulumi plugin ls` lacks it), the download from pulumi.com fails, or the provider binary exits during GetSchema handshake.

Common situations: Offline/air-gapped environment blocking plugin download; wrong plugin name/typo; incompatible plugin version for the current CLI; corrupt plugin binary in the cache.

Related errors

• could not run plugin at %q: %w
• starting gRPC server: %w
• failed to validate provider config: %w
• parameterize provider for extension component: %w
• could not dial plugin [%v] over RPC: %w

AI-assisted analysis of pulumi/pulumi@793f7b2e16 (2026-08-31). Data as JSON: /api/errors/c0f366cbee98848e. Report an issue: GitHub.