INVALID_STATE - Invalid State: Resource State Mismatch

#Common Causes

• →Resource State Mismatch: The resource is in a state that doesn't allow the operation. For example, stopping a VM that's already stopped, or deleting a resource that's being created. This can be persistent if the state won't change, or transient if the state will change.
• →Invalid State Transition: The requested state transition isn't allowed. For example, transitioning directly from TERMINATED to RUNNING without starting first. This is persistent—you must follow valid state transitions.
• →Resource Locked: The resource is locked by another operation. Locks prevent concurrent modifications. This is transient—waiting for the lock to release and retrying helps.
• →Service-Specific State Behavior: State behavior varies by service. Some services have more complex state machines than others (e.g., GKE has RECONCILING state, Cloud SQL has MAINTENANCE state).

✓Solutions

1. 1Step 1: Diagnose - Check the resource's current state: gcloud compute instances describe INSTANCE_NAME --zone ZONE --format="get(status)" --project PROJECT_ID Or for Cloud SQL: gcloud sql instances describe INSTANCE_NAME --format="get(state)" --project PROJECT_ID
2. 2Step 2: Diagnose - Check for in-progress operations that might be locking the resource: gcloud compute operations list --filter="status:RUNNING AND targetLink:*instances/INSTANCE_NAME" --project PROJECT_ID
3. 3Step 3: Diagnose - Review API documentation for valid state transitions for your service.
4. 4Step 4: Fix - Change resource state if needed. For example, start a stopped VM: gcloud compute instances start INSTANCE_NAME --zone ZONE --project PROJECT_ID
5. 5Step 5: Fix - Wait for dependencies or in-progress operations to complete: gcloud compute operations wait OPERATION_ID --zone ZONE --project PROJECT_ID
6. 6Step 6: Fix - Follow valid state transitions. Check API documentation and perform intermediate state changes if needed.
7. 7Step 7: Verify - Retry the operation after state/dependencies are ready.

</>Code Examples

1# This script checks resource state and dependencies before operations to avoid INVALID_STATE errors
2
3PROJECT_ID="my-project"
4INSTANCE_NAME="my-instance"
5ZONE="us-central1-a"
6
7# Step 1: Check resource current state
8echo "Checking instance state..."
9STATE=$(gcloud compute instances describe $INSTANCE_NAME \
10  --zone $ZONE \
11  --project $PROJECT_ID \
12  --format="value(status)")
13
14echo "Current state: $STATE"
15
16# Step 2: Check for in-progress operations
17echo "Checking for in-progress operations..."
18OPERATIONS=$(gcloud compute operations list \
19  --filter="status:RUNNING AND targetLink:*instances/$INSTANCE_NAME" \
20  --format="value(name)" \
21  --project $PROJECT_ID)
22
23if [ ! -z "$OPERATIONS" ]; then
24  echo "Found in-progress operations. Waiting for them to complete..."
25  for OP in $OPERATIONS; do
26    echo "Waiting for operation $OP..."
27    gcloud compute operations wait $OP --zone $ZONE --project $PROJECT_ID
28  done
29fi
30
31# Step 3: If state doesn't allow operation, change it
32# Example: Start instance if it's stopped and we need it running
33if [ "$STATE" != "RUNNING" ]; then
34  echo "Instance is $STATE, starting..."
35  gcloud compute instances start $INSTANCE_NAME --zone $ZONE --project $PROJECT_ID
36  echo "Waiting for instance to be RUNNING..."
37  gcloud compute instances wait-until-running $INSTANCE_NAME --zone $ZONE --project $PROJECT_ID
38  echo "Instance is now RUNNING"
39fi
40
41# Step 4: Now perform your operation
42echo "Preconditions met. Proceeding with operation..."

↗Related Errors