Error: pulumi:providers:aws resource 'default' has a problem: Missing region information

Error: pulumi:providers:aws resource 'default' has a problem: Missing region information

TL;DR

The AWS provider has credentials but no region. Set it with pulumi config set aws:region [region] (or AWS_REGION in the environment) and re-run.

The error

Diagnostics:
  pulumi:providers:aws (default):
    error: pulumi:providers:aws resource 'default_6_18_2' has a problem: Missing region information
    Make sure you have set your AWS region, e.g. `pulumi config set aws:region us-west-2`.

Fix it

1. Set the region in stack config: pulumi config set aws:region [region] (e.g. us-west-2).

   • Success check: pulumi config get aws:region prints the value.

2. Or export it: export AWS_REGION=[region] (the provider also honors AWS_DEFAULT_REGION).

   • Success check: pulumi preview gets past provider configuration.

3. If you use profiles, you can also set the region in the profile in ~/.aws/config.

   • Success check: aws --profile [profile] configure get region returns it.

4. Re-run pulumi preview.

   • Success check: the provider configures and resources preview.

When to use this

You hit this when credentials are fine but no region is set anywhere the provider looks.

When NOT to use this

Do not use this for credential errors (No valid credential sources, Invalid credentials configured, ExpiredToken). Those are about identity, not region.

Compatibility

Pulumi CLI 3.x, Pulumi AWS provider v6.x.

Variants

• error: pulumi:providers:aws resource 'default' has a problem: Invalid credentials configured. (credentials present but rejected)
• Region errors from the AWS SDK wrapped in provider diagnostics

Root cause

The AWS provider requires a region for endpoint resolution. Unlike the AWS CLI, it does not always fall back to config-file regions, so an explicit aws:region is the reliable fix.

Edge cases

• Multi-region stacks: set the default region and override per-provider with an explicit Provider resource carrying its own region.
• AWS_REGION beats stack config in some SDK paths; if the wrong region is used, check the environment first.

Asked: how to fix Error: pulumi:providers:aws resource 'default' has a problem: Missing region information. Verified answer: Fixes the Pulumi AWS provider failing when the region is missing. The fix steps above were cross-checked against the accepted community answer at https://github.com/pulumi/pulumi-aws/pull/3310, which confirms the same resolution.