All cdktf commands fail with a missing cli-core/templates file

TL;DR

Upgrade the CLI to v0.17.3 or later, which contains the fix. The maintainer also notes their end-to-end tests were improved to catch this class of packaging error, so staying on a recent fixed release is the durable answer.

Steps

1. Upgrade the CLI to v0.17.3 or later, which contains the fix. If you pin the CLI version in CI (and you should), bump the pin rather than unpinning to latest, so the next bad release cannot surprise you the same way. The maintainer also notes their end-to-end tests were improved to catch this class of packaging error, so staying on a recent fixed release is the durable answer.

When to use

You are seeing this: If you pin the CLI version in CI (and you should), bump the pin rather than unpinning to latest, so the next bad release cannot surprise you the same way. Use this skill when you run into "All cdktf commands fail with a missing cli-core/templates file".

When not to use

If your error message or symptom does not match what is described above, this is probably not your fix. Search for your exact error text instead of forcing this one to fit.

Versions

Versions mentioned in the source: v0.17.3. If you are on something much newer or older, the details may have shifted.

Why this happens

The original report does not dig into a root cause. It documents the symptom and the fix that resolved it.

Source: GitHub issue hashicorp/terraform-cdk#3025 (closed, 14 comments): every cdktf-cli command, including cdktf plan in GitHub Actions, suddenly fails with a file not found error for cli-core/templates, on multiple operating systems, with no changes to the infrastructure code. Maintainer ansgarm confirms it is a CLI packaging bug and points at the fix release.

Verified resolution: Upgrade the CLI to v0.17.3 or later, which contains the fix. If you pin the CLI version in CI (and you should), bump the pin rather than unpinning to latest, so the next bad release cannot surprise you the same way. The maintainer also notes their end-to-end tests were improved to catch this class of packaging error, so staying on a recent fixed release is the durable answer.

Source URL: https://github.com/hashicorp/terraform-cdk/issues/3025