How to fix Error: External program failed to produce valid JSON in Terraform

# Run your external program and pipe to a JSON validator
your_program | jq empty
# If jq fails, your JSON is invalid

# WRONG - returns Python dict with single quotes
result = {"ip": "10.190.170.37", "network": "10.190.170.0"}
print(result)

# CORRECT - proper JSON with double quotes
import json
result = {"ip": "10.190.170.37", "network": "10.190.170.0"}
print(json.dumps(result))

#!/bin/bash
ip="10.190.170.37"
network="10.190.170.0"

# Safe JSON construction with jq
jq -n --arg ip "$ip" --arg network "$network" \
  '{"ip": $ip, "network": $network}'

import json
import sys

# DON'T DO THIS - debug output breaks JSON
print("Starting script...") # This breaks the JSON!
result = {"key": "value"}
print(json.dumps(result))

# DO THIS - only JSON to stdout
result = {"key": "value"}
print(json.dumps(result))
# Use stderr for debug output instead
print("Debug message", file=sys.stderr)

# In bash
exit 0  # Success

# In Python
import sys
sys.exit(0)  # Success
sys.exit(1)  # Failure

# Test with the same inputs Terraform would use
echo '{"arg1": "value1"}' | your_program | jq .

# Check exit code
echo $?