Something went wrong while executing your query. Please include 4400:1AED5B:579CADD:14D3A4BD:6A0E5CC5 when reporting this issue.

[Harrison-Seow]

🏷️ Discussion Type

Bug

💬 Feature/Topic Area

API

Body

This is part of a Terraform project, and the resource is github_branch_protection, looking at the change, it doesn't seem difficult or huge. We have a daily CI and particular change has been failing for weeks now.

 ~ resource "github_branch_protection" "branch-protections" {
        id                              = "XXX"
        # (10 unchanged attributes hidden)

      ~ required_pull_request_reviews {
          ~ pull_request_bypassers          = [
              - "github_app",
                # (1 unchanged element hidden)
            ]
            # (6 unchanged attributes hidden)
        }

      ~ required_status_checks {
          ~ strict   = true -> false
            # (1 unchanged attribute hidden)
        }
    }

Plan: 0 to add, 1 to change, 0 to destroy.

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[AIwaziri]

This Terraform diff for GitHub github_branch_protection usually fails for a few very specific API behavior reasons, even though the change looks small.

⸻

Root cause summary

Your CI is failing not because the change is big, but because:

• GitHub branch protection API is eventually consistent
• pull_request_bypassers is non-deterministic
• Terraform is detecting false drift loops

What is actually changing in your plan

You have two important updates:

1. Pull request bypassers

github_app → removed from list

2. Required status checks

strict: true → false

⸻

Why this keeps failing in CI

1. GitHub API “re-ordering / normalization issue”

The pull_request_bypassers field is not stable in API responses.
GitHub often:

• reorders values
• returns implicit values (apps, teams, users differently)

So Terraform thinks:

“you removed github_app”

But GitHub may still be enforcing it internally.

⸻

2. strict = true → false is sensitive

This setting controls whether:

• all required checks must pass on the exact branch state (strict=true)
• or can be more flexible (strict=false)

Even if you change it once, GitHub may:

• delay propagation
• temporarily reject updates if checks are still running

⸻

3. API eventual consistency (very common)

Branch protection rules often have:

• delayed consistency
• partial update behavior

So CI runs repeatedly see:

drift → re-apply → drift again → failure loop

⸻

How to fix it (practical solutions)

Option 1 — Force stable config in Terraform

Add explicit full values:

required_pull_request_reviews {
pull_request_bypassers = ["github_app", "your-actual-app"]
}

Don’t let Terraform “guess differences”.

⸻

Option 2 — Split the change

Apply in two steps:

1. First apply only:
   • bypassers change
2. Second apply:
   • strict flag change

This avoids API conflict locking.

⸻

Option 3 — Ignore unstable fields (recommended for CI stability)

lifecycle {
ignore_changes = [
required_pull_request_reviews,
]
}

Use carefully — only if Terraform is constantly fighting GitHub.

⸻

Option 4 — Confirm real API state

Use:

gh api repos/:owner/:repo/branches/:branch/protection

Check what GitHub actually thinks the values are.

[P-r-e-m-i-u-m]

That Something went wrong while executing your query message with an ID looks like a GitHub backend/GraphQL request failure, but the Terraform diff gives a useful clue.

The risky part is not strict = true -> false by itself. The suspicious part is this:

pull_request_bypassers = [
  - "github_app",
]

In Terraform's github_branch_protection, pull_request_bypassers must be resolvable actor names/IDs. The provider docs describe it as a list of actor names/IDs allowed to bypass pull request requirements. A generic string like github_app is unlikely to be a valid actor by itself unless that is literally the expected actor identifier in your config.

Provider docs: https://registry.terraform.io/providers/integrations/github/latest/docs/resources/branch_protection

GitHub's REST branch protection API also models bypass permissions as concrete users, teams, or apps, not as a generic actor type string.

REST docs: https://docs.github.com/en/rest/branches/branch-protection

What I would try:

1. Upgrade the GitHub Terraform provider to the latest version, then run terraform init -upgrade.
2. Run with debug logs once so you can capture the failing request path:

TF_LOG=DEBUG terraform apply

3. Split the apply into two changes:

• first change only required_status_checks.strict
• then change/remove pull_request_bypassers

That will tell you which field triggers the GitHub query failure.

4. Verify the bypass actor list. If the bypasser is a GitHub App, use the exact app slug/name/ID format supported by the provider, not the placeholder/type value github_app.

5. If it still fails, open an issue in integrations/terraform-provider-github with:

• provider version
• Terraform version
• the redacted resource block
• the failing request ID from GitHub (4400:...)
• whether the failure happens only when changing pull_request_bypassers

The request ID is useful for GitHub staff, but provider maintainers will need the minimized Terraform config to determine whether the provider is sending an invalid actor value or GitHub's API is failing on a valid one.