terraform lifecycle_error ai_generated true

Error: Instance cannot be destroyed: resource has lifecycle.prevent_destroy set

ID: terraform/tf-lifecycle-prevent-destroy

Also available as: JSON · Markdown

90%Fix Rate

92%Confidence

70Evidence

2023-01-01First Seen

Version Compatibility

Version	Status	Introduced	Deprecated	Notes
1	active	—	—	—

Terraform plan includes destroying a resource that has prevent_destroy lifecycle rule enabled.

generic

92% success Remove or set prevent_destroy = false before destroying
```
Update the lifecycle block: lifecycle { prevent_destroy = false }, then run terraform apply, then destroy
```
Sources: https://developer.hashicorp.com/terraform/language/meta-arguments/lifecycle
85% success Use terraform state rm to remove from state without destroying the actual resource
```
terraform state rm RESOURCE_ADDRESS removes the resource from Terraform management without destroying it in the cloud
```
Sources: https://developer.hashicorp.com/terraform/cli/commands/state/rm

Common approaches that don't work:

Use terraform destroy -target to bypass prevent_destroy 90% fail
The -target flag does not override lifecycle rules; prevent_destroy still blocks the destroy
Modify the state file directly to remove the resource 75% fail
Direct state modification is error-prone and the resource still exists in the cloud, creating drift

Leads to:

Preceded by:

Frequently confused with: