Terraform run fails with 'archive has not been created as it would be empty' when using the 'archive_file' resource – HashiCorp Help Center

Problem

When using the archive_file data source, a Terraform run fails during the planning phase with the following error message.

data.archive_file.test: Reading...
Planning failed. Terraform encountered an error while generating this plan.

╷
│ Error: Archive creation error
│ 
│ with data.archive_file.test,
│ on main.tf line 10, in data "archive_file" "test":
│ 10: data "archive_file" "test" {
│ 
│ error creating archive:
│ error archiving directory:
│ archive has not been created as it would be empty

This error occurs with a configuration similar to the following example.

data "archive_file" "test" {
  type        = "zip"
  source_dir  = "to_zip"
  output_path = "zipped/test.zip"
}

Prerequisites

Terraform Archive provider version 2.4.2 or newer.
The directory specified in source_dir is empty.

Cause

Version 2.4.2 of the Terraform Archive provider introduced a change to prevent the creation of empty zip archives. This change returns an error if the source_dir contains no files, as noted in the provider's changelog.

data-source/archive_file: Return error when generated archive would be empty

Solutions

Solution 1: Ensure the Source Directory is Not Empty

The intended behavior of the provider is to archive content. Ensure that the directory specified in the source_dir argument contains at least one file before running Terraform.

Solution 2: Pin the Provider to an Older Version

If your use case requires creating an archive from an empty directory, you can pin the Archive provider to a version prior to the change, such as 2.4.0. Add a required_providers block to your configuration to specify the version.

terraform {
  required_providers {
    archive = {
      source  = "hashicorp/archive"
      version = "2.4.0"
    }
  }
}

Additional Information

Important Consideration

Do not use the same path for the output_path and source_dir arguments. This configuration can cause a recursive archiving loop where the output zip file is included in the source for the next operation.