pulumi/pulumi · error

resources file contains invalid URN for %q: %w

Error message

resources file contains invalid URN for %q: %w

What it means

Each value in the resources file must parse as a valid Pulumi URN via resource.ParseURN. If a value is not a well-formed URN, the file is rejected with this wrapped error naming the offending resource.

Source

Thrown at pkg/cmd/pulumi/do/do_resource_upsert.go:538

		return nil, nil
	}
	f, err := os.Open(path)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("open resources file: %w", err)
	}
	defer contract.IgnoreClose(f)

	var refs map[string]string
	if err := json.NewDecoder(f).Decode(&refs); err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("parse resources file: %w", err)
	}
	for name, rawURN := range refs {
		if name == "" {
			return nil, errors.New("resources file contains an empty resource name")
		}
		urn, err := resource.ParseURN(rawURN)
		if err != nil {
			return nil, fmt.Errorf("resources file contains invalid URN for %q: %w", name, err)
		}
		refs[name] = string(urn)
	}
	return refs, nil
}

func resourceReferenceInfos(
	resources map[string]string, snap *deploy.Snapshot,
) (map[string]plugin.ConvertSnippetResourceReference, error) {
	if len(resources) == 0 {
		return nil, nil
	}

	statesByURN := map[resource.URN]*pkgresource.State{}
	providersByRef := map[string]*pkgresource.State{}
	if snap != nil {
		for _, state := range snap.Resources {
			if state == nil {

View on GitHub (pinned to 793f7b2e16)

Solutions

1. Copy the exact URN from `pulumi stack export` (fields named "urn") rather than writing it by hand.
2. Check URN structure: urn:pulumi:<stack>::<project>::<type>::<name> — four double-colon separated parts after the prefix.
3. Re-generate the resources file via the upsert flow instead of manual construction.

Example fix

// before
{"my-bucket": "my-bucket-id-123"}
// after
{"my-bucket": "urn:pulumi:stg::proj::aws:s3/bucket:Bucket::my-bucket"}

for name, urn := range refs {
  if !strings.HasPrefix(urn, "urn:pulumi:") || len(strings.Split(urn, "::")) != 4 {
    return fmt.Errorf("entry %q has malformed URN %q", name, urn)
  }
}

When it happens

Trigger: A resources file value like "my-bucket" (bare name), a truncated URN, or a URN with wrong segment counts is supplied to runStatefulSnippetUpdate/Patch.

Common situations: Hand-written URNs with wrong segment counts, URNs copied from logs with truncation, or using resource IDs instead of URNs in the file.

Related errors

• resources file contains an empty resource name
• resource %s is not a provider (type=%s); --provider must nam
• %q is not a valid resource URN %s
• call self must have a known urn property of type string
• duplicate import '%v' of type '%v'

AI-assisted analysis of pulumi/pulumi@793f7b2e16 (2026-08-31). Data as JSON: /api/errors/c8788c1c1a34e886. Report an issue: GitHub.