Inconsistent conditional result types Terraform Origin: Platform & cloud OSI layer 7 · Application Last updated 5 Nov 2026

Terraform: Error: Inconsistent conditional result types — The true and false result expressions must have consistent types

A cond ? a : b expression returns values of different types/shapes.

Exact message you may see Error: Inconsistent conditional result typesThe true and false result expressions must have consistent typesThe 'true' value includes object attribute "x", which is absent in the 'false' valueError: Inconsistent conditional result types The true and false result expressions must have consistent types. The given expressions are tuple and objectInconsistent conditional result types
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Seen on: Terraform

Meaning

Make both branches the same type: convert with tolist(), tomap(), merge, or use null/empty equivalents ([], {}). With objects ensure both have the same attributes. In recent versions many cases unify automatically, but objects with different attributes don't.

Common causes

  • One branch [], another object
  • Objects with different attributes
  • list vs set vs tuple
  • string vs number
  • null vs complex values

⚡ Quick fix

  1. Normalise types: var.x != null ? var.x : {} with matching shapes
  2. Use tolist/toset/tomap
  3. Use try()/merge() for objects

Detailed fix by platform

Terraform

  1. local.cfg = var.enabled ? { name = "x", size = 1 } : { name = "", size = 0 }

How to diagnose

  1. Branches — Types?
  2. Shape — Attributes?
  3. Convert — to*()?

🔧 Still not fixed?

Many errors look alike. If the steps above didn’t solve it, one of these is probably what you’re facing:

Where this error sits

Origin: Platform & cloud. Errors that are often confused with or caused by this one (click to open):

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