How to fix Error: Resource not found in Terraform

First, verify whether the resource still exists in your AWS/GCP console:

For AWS:
- Open the AWS Console
- Navigate to the resource type (EC2, S3, RDS, etc.)
- Search for the resource by ID or name mentioned in the error
- Check that you're in the correct region

For GCP:
- Open the Google Cloud Console
- Verify you're in the correct project
- Check the resource list for the type mentioned in the error
- Confirm the resource hasn't been deleted

If the resource no longer exists, proceed to Step 2. If it does exist, check Step 4 for configuration mismatches.

If the resource was manually deleted, synchronize your state file with actual infrastructure:

# Option 1: Full refresh (Terraform 0.15.4+, recommended)
terraform apply -refresh-only
terraform plan

# Option 2: Legacy refresh command
terraform refresh
terraform plan

This reads the current state of all resources from your cloud provider and updates your state file. If Terraform confirms the resource no longer exists, the state will be updated accordingly.

If the resource has been permanently deleted and no longer exists in the cloud, remove it from your Terraform state:

terraform state rm <resource_address>

For example:

terraform state rm aws_instance.web_server
terraform state rm module.networking.aws_security_group.main

After removing it, run terraform plan to verify the resource is no longer referenced.

If the resource exists in the cloud but Terraform can't find it (perhaps after module changes), import it:

terraform import <resource_address> <resource_id>

Examples:

# AWS EC2 instance
terraform import aws_instance.web i-1234567890abcdef0

# AWS S3 bucket
terraform import aws_s3_bucket.mybucket mybucket

# GCP Compute instance
terraform import google_compute_instance.default us-central1-a/my-instance

Run terraform plan after importing to verify no changes are needed.

Ensure your Terraform provider is configured for the correct region/project:

# AWS
provider "aws" {
  region = "us-east-1"  # Matches where your resource exists
}

# GCP
provider "google" {
  project = "my-project"
  region  = "us-central1"
}

If you changed regions or projects, update your provider configuration and run:

terraform plan
terraform apply

If you refactored modules and Terraform can't find resources, move them in state:

# Move a resource to a new address
terraform state mv aws_instance.old_address aws_instance.new_address

# Move a resource into a module
terraform state mv aws_s3_bucket.bucket module.storage.aws_s3_bucket.bucket

List all state resources first to understand current addresses:

terraform state list

After moving resources, run terraform plan to verify no changes are required.