Troubleshoot: Terraform consul_config_entry Mesh Resource Fails with Custom Name

resource "consul_config_entry" "peering_gateway" {
  name = "custom-mesh"
  kind = "mesh"
  partition = "default"

  config_json = jsonencode({
    Peering = {
      PeerThroughMeshGateways = true
    }
  })
}

You will observe the following:

• Terraform Plan: Succeeds.

• Terraform Apply: Fails with the error:

When applying changes to
module.hcp_consul_provision_prod.consul_config_entry.peering_gateway,
provider "provider[\"registry.terraform.io/hashicorp/consul\"].prod" produced
an unexpected new value: Root resource was present, but now absent.

This is a bug in the provider, which should be reported in the provider's own
issue tracker.

Root Cause

Terraform’s consul_config_entry resource schema requires a name for all kinds of configuration entries, including kind = "mesh". However, Consul's API only accepts the value "mesh" as a valid name for a mesh entry. If a different name is used, the resource is rejected or inconsistently applied by the provider.

This mismatch between Terraform's schema validation and Consul's backend validation leads to undefined or failing behavior at apply time.

Resolution / Workaround

When using the consul_config_entry resource with kind = "mesh", always set name = "mesh" explicitly, as shown below:

resource "consul_config_entry" "peering_gateway" {
  name = "mesh" # Required for kind = "mesh"
  kind = "mesh"
  partition = "default"

  config_json = jsonencode({
    Peering = {
    PeerThroughMeshGateways = true
  }
})
}