How to fix Error: Upload failed for in Terraform

Ensure you have valid API credentials for your Terraform Cloud or Enterprise instance. Run:

terraform login

This will prompt you to paste an API token. Alternatively, set the environment variable:

export TF_TOKEN_app_terraform_io="your-api-token-here"

For private registries, ensure your ~/.terraform.d/credentials.tfrc.json is properly configured:

{
  "credentials": {
    "app.terraform.io": {
      "token": "your-api-token"
    }
  }
}

Verify the credentials file has restrictive permissions:

chmod 600 ~/.terraform.d/credentials.tfrc.json

If uploading a module to the private registry, inspect the module directory for invalid files, particularly symlinks. List all files:

ls -la module-directory/

Look for symlinks and verify they're valid:

find module-directory -type l -exec ls -l {} \;

Remove or fix any broken symlinks:

find module-directory -type l ! -exec test -L {} \; -print

If a symlink is broken, either remove it or replace it with the actual file content. The module registry does not support symlinks pointing outside the module.

For file provisioner errors, ensure the target user has write permissions to the destination directory:

# Connect to the remote resource and check permissions
ssh user@host "ls -ld /destination/path"

If permissions are insufficient, adjust them or upload to a user-writable directory first, then move files:

provisioner "remote-exec" {
  inline = [
    "mkdir -p /destination",
    "chmod 755 /destination"
  ]
}

provisioner "file" {
  source      = "local/path"
  destination = "/tmp/upload"
}

provisioner "remote-exec" {
  inline = [
    "mv /tmp/upload /destination/path"
  ]
}

Verify connectivity from your Terraform client to the target endpoint:

# For Terraform Cloud/Enterprise
curl -I https://app.terraform.io/api/registry/v1/modules

# For remote hosts (SSH)
ssh -v user@host "echo ok"

If the connection fails, check your firewall rules and VPN connection. For WinRM (Windows):

Test-WSMan -ComputerName hostname

Increase the client timeout if the registry is slow to respond:

export TF_REGISTRY_CLIENT_TIMEOUT=10

If the module upload is stuck in an invalid state ('reg_ingressing' status), delete it via the Terraform Cloud API and retry:

# Delete the module version (replace with your values)
curl -X DELETE \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TF_TOKEN_app_terraform_io" \
  https://app.terraform.io/api/registry/v1/modules/namespace/name/provider/versions/1.0.0

Then push the module again:

terraform login
cd path/to/module
terraform init

If uploads are timing out, increase the timeout in your Terraform configuration:

provisioner "file" {
  source      = "local/file"
  destination = "/remote/path"

  connection {
    type        = "ssh"
    user        = "ec2-user"
    private_key = file("~/.ssh/id_rsa")
    host        = self.public_ip
    timeout     = "5m"
  }
}

For large files or many files, consider uploading a compressed archive instead and extracting on the remote end.