This error occurs when Terraform attempts to create a GCP Service Account that already exists in your project. The fix involves either using the create_ignore_already_exists flag or importing the existing account into your Terraform state.
When you run Terraform to create a Google Cloud Platform (GCP) Service Account, you may receive the "AlreadyExists" error (HTTP 409). This happens because Terraform tried to create a service account, but GCP already has one with that email address in your project. The root cause is usually GCP's eventual consistency model. Terraform makes the initial create request, but GCP's backend may return an error on the subsequent verification call, even though the account was created. When you retry the apply, Terraform sees the account exists and throws the AlreadyExists error. In other cases, the service account may have been created outside Terraform (via gcloud CLI, Console, or by another process) but isn't tracked in your Terraform state, causing a conflict.
The recommended solution is to add the create_ignore_already_exists = true flag to your google_service_account resource. This tells Terraform to skip creation if the account already exists.
resource "google_service_account" "my_service_account" {
account_id = "my-service-account"
display_name = "My Service Account"
project = "my-project-id"
create_ignore_already_exists = true
}This is the safest fix because it prevents the error without destructive changes. Terraform will create the account on first apply, and on subsequent applies it will recognize the account exists and skip creation.
If the service account was created outside Terraform, import it into your state file. First, get the service account email from GCP Console, then run the terraform import command:
terraform import google_service_account.my_service_account projects/MY_PROJECT_ID/serviceAccounts/[email protected]Replace the values:
- google_service_account.my_service_account: Your resource address in Terraform
- MY_PROJECT_ID: Your GCP project ID
- [email protected]: The full service account email
After import, terraform plan should show no changes. The account is now tracked in your state.
Before importing or troubleshooting, confirm the account exists:
gcloud iam service-accounts list --project=MY_PROJECT_IDLook for your service account email in the output. If it's there, you need to import it (step 2). If it's not there, the error may be transient—wait a few seconds and retry terraform apply.
You can also describe a specific account:
gcloud iam service-accounts describe [email protected] --project=MY_PROJECT_IDIf the existing account is orphaned or misconfigured, you can delete it from GCP and let Terraform recreate it:
gcloud iam service-accounts delete [email protected] --project=MY_PROJECT_IDWait a few seconds for the deletion to propagate, then run:
terraform applyWarning: Deleting a service account also removes all associated keys and IAM bindings. If the account is in use, make sure to recreate those bindings in your Terraform configuration or manually restore them afterward.
If you're creating IAM roles or keys immediately after the service account in the same Terraform config, GCP's eventual consistency can cause downstream failures. Add a small delay using local-exec:
resource "google_service_account" "my_service_account" {
account_id = "my-service-account"
display_name = "My Service Account"
project = "my-project-id"
create_ignore_already_exists = true
}
resource "null_resource" "eventual_consistency" {
depends_on = [google_service_account.my_service_account]
provisioner "local-exec" {
command = "sleep 2"
}
}
resource "google_service_account_key" "my_key" {
depends_on = [null_resource.eventual_consistency]
service_account_id = google_service_account.my_service_account.name
public_key_type = "TYPE_X509_PEM_FILE"
}This ensures GCP has time to replicate the account before attempting to create dependent resources.
Update Terraform and the Google provider to latest versions, as GCP service account issues have been fixed in recent releases:
terraform versionUpdate your provider in versions.tf or main.tf:
terraform {
required_providers {
google = {
source = "hashicorp/google"
version = "~> 6.0" # Use latest stable version
}
}
}Then run:
terraform init -upgrade
terraform applyCheck the GitHub issues for the terraform-provider-google project to see if your specific scenario has a known workaround.
Eventual Consistency in GCP: Service accounts are eventually consistent across GCP's infrastructure. When you create an account, the API may return success but the get operation might briefly fail, causing Terraform's validate-after-create to error. The create_ignore_already_exists flag was added specifically to handle this edge case.
Service Account Quotas: Each GCP project has a limit on the number of service accounts (typically 100). If you're near the quota, you may see 409 errors even when not explicitly duplicating. Check your quota usage in GCP Console under APIs & Services > Quotas.
State File Synchronization: Always commit your Terraform state file (if not using remote state) to version control with team members, or use Terraform Cloud/Enterprise for shared state. Diverged state causes "account exists but not in state" issues across teams.
Rootless Docker and Service Accounts: If running Terraform in containers, ensure the container has proper credentials (via GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS or Application Default Credentials). Service account creation can fail with permission errors if credentials aren't configured correctly.
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