pulumi/pulumi · error

--operation is not valid for drift schedules

Error message

--operation is not valid for drift schedules

What it means

The --operation flag selects a deployment operation (e.g. refresh/destroy) for schedules that support it. Drift schedules have a fixed operation (drift detection), so editing a drift schedule with --operation is rejected by validateScheduleEditFlags.

Source

Thrown at pkg/cmd/pulumi/stack/stack_schedule_edit.go:238

		flags.autoRemediateChanged ||
		flags.deleteAfterDestroyChanged
}

func validateScheduleEditFlags(kind string, flags stackScheduleEditFlags) error {
	switch kind {
	case scheduleKindRaw:
		if flags.autoRemediateChanged {
			return errors.New("--auto-remediate is only valid for drift schedules")
		}
		if flags.deleteAfterDestroyChanged {
			return errors.New("--delete-after-destroy is only valid for ttl schedules")
		}
	case scheduleKindDrift:
		if flags.onceChanged {
			return errors.New("--once is not valid for drift schedules; use --cron")
		}
		if flags.operationChanged {
			return errors.New("--operation is not valid for drift schedules")
		}
		if flags.deleteAfterDestroyChanged {
			return errors.New("--delete-after-destroy is only valid for ttl schedules")
		}
	case scheduleKindTTL:
		if flags.cronChanged {
			return errors.New("--cron is not valid for ttl schedules; use --once")
		}
		if flags.operationChanged {
			return errors.New("--operation is not valid for ttl schedules")
		}
		if flags.autoRemediateChanged {
			return errors.New("--auto-remediate is only valid for drift schedules")
		}
	}
	return nil
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 793f7b2e16)

Solutions

1. Remove --operation when editing a drift schedule.
2. To run refresh/destroy on a schedule, create or edit a raw or TTL deployment schedule with the desired --operation.
3. Keep drift schedules dedicated to drift detection and adjust their --cron only.

Example fix

// before
pulumi stack schedule edit my-drift-schedule --operation refresh
// after
pulumi stack schedule edit my-drift-schedule  # drift operation is fixed
pulumi stack schedule create --cron "0 * * * *" --operation refresh  # separate schedule

if kind === 'drift' && argvHas('--operation') {
  throw new Error('--operation is not valid for drift schedules');
}

function isDriftSchedule(s) { return s.kind === 'drift'; }

When it happens

Trigger: Running `pulumi stack schedule edit <drift-schedule> --operation <op>` (flags.operationChanged true while kind == scheduleKindDrift).

Common situations: Users try to change what a drift schedule does (e.g. make it run refresh or destroy) instead of creating a deployment schedule of the appropriate kind.

Related errors

• --once is not valid for drift schedules; use --cron
• --auto-remediate is only valid for drift schedules
• --delete-after-destroy is only valid for ttl schedules
• --cron is not valid for ttl schedules; use --once
• --operation is not valid for ttl schedules

AI-assisted analysis of pulumi/pulumi@793f7b2e16 (2026-08-31). Data as JSON: /api/errors/a8d1982816988356. Report an issue: GitHub.