fix(provisioner): emit regions=[] not null so OpenTofu validator accepts zero-override request (#743)

Live failure on otech86 (DID 103c52d08510006f, 2026-05-04 11:12:43Z).
After PR #742 fixed the empty SKU strings in tfvars, the next blocker
appeared: writeTfvars was emitting `"regions": null` (Go nil slice
marshals to JSON null) when the request had no per-region overrides.

OpenTofu's variables.tf carries a validation block:

  validation {
    condition = alltrue([
      for r in var.regions :
      contains(["hetzner", "huawei", "oci", "aws", "azure"], r.provider)
    ])
  }

The `for r in var.regions` iteration fails on null with:

  Error: Iteration over null value
  on variables.tf line 217, in variable "regions":

The variables.tf default `[]` is what the validator expects; emit
that shape explicitly via a coalesceRegions(req.Regions) helper that
turns nil into an empty slice. Operator overrides round-trip
unchanged.

Tests:
- TestWriteTfvars_EmitsRegionsAsEmptyArrayNotNull — proves regions
  serialises as JSON `[]`, never `null`, when the request has no
  per-region overrides.

Builds on PR #742.

Co-authored-by: hatiyildiz <hatiyildiz@openova.io>
Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

products/catalyst/bootstrap/api/internal/provisioner/provisioner.go

@@ -870,7 +870,15 @@ func writeTfvars(deployDir string, req Request) error {
 		// unused by main.tf; the for_each that consumes it lives behind
 		// the multi-region activation work). Structural-correct today;
 		// no-op at apply time for solo deployments where len(regions)<=1.
-		"regions": req.Regions,
+		//
+		// IMPORTANT: emit empty slice [] (not nil) when the request has
+		// no per-region overrides. Go's nil slice marshals as JSON null
+		// — and OpenTofu's validation block (`for r in var.regions`)
+		// chokes on null with "Error: Iteration over null value" at
+		// `tofu plan`. Live failure on otech86 (DID 103c52d08510006f,
+		// 2026-05-04 11:12:43Z). The variables.tf default = [] is what
+		// the validator expects; emit that shape explicitly.
+		"regions": coalesceRegions(req.Regions),
 
 		// SSH key — module creates an hcloud_ssh_key from this and attaches
 		// to all servers. We never generate keys here; sovereign-admin
@@ -1028,3 +1036,17 @@ func env(key, def string) string {
 	}
 	return def
 }
+
+// coalesceRegions normalises a nil RegionSpec slice to an empty slice so
+// JSON marshalling emits `[]` instead of `null`. The OpenTofu module's
+// `variable "regions"` validator runs `for r in var.regions` which fails
+// on null with "Error: Iteration over null value" but accepts an empty
+// list (the variables.tf default). Live failure on otech86 (DID
+// 103c52d08510006f, 2026-05-04 11:12:43Z) when the autopilot zero-touch
+// cycle launched without any per-region overrides.
+func coalesceRegions(rs []RegionSpec) []RegionSpec {
+	if rs == nil {
+		return []RegionSpec{}
+	}
+	return rs
+}

products/catalyst/bootstrap/api/internal/provisioner/provisioner_test.go

@@ -457,6 +457,54 @@ func TestWriteTfvars_OmitsEmptySingularSizes(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+// TestWriteTfvars_EmitsRegionsAsEmptyArrayNotNull proves writeTfvars
+// emits an empty JSON array for `regions` when the request has no
+// per-region overrides — never JSON null. The OpenTofu module's
+// variables.tf has a validation block (`for r in var.regions`) that
+// fails on null with "Error: Iteration over null value" but accepts
+// an empty list. Live failure on otech86 (DID 103c52d08510006f,
+// 2026-05-04 11:12:43Z).
+func TestWriteTfvars_EmitsRegionsAsEmptyArrayNotNull(t *testing.T) {
+	dir, err := os.MkdirTemp("", "writeTfvars-*")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("mkdir: %v", err)
+	}
+	defer os.RemoveAll(dir)
+
+	req := Request{
+		SovereignFQDN:    "otech86.omani.works",
+		OrgName:          "Acme",
+		OrgEmail:         "ops@acme.io",
+		HetznerToken:     "tok",
+		HetznerProjectID: "p1",
+		Region:           "fsn1",
+		WorkerCount:      2,
+		// Regions intentionally nil — the legacy singular path.
+	}
+	if err := writeTfvars(dir, req); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("writeTfvars: %v", err)
+	}
+	raw, err := os.ReadFile(dir + "/tofu.auto.tfvars.json")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("read: %v", err)
+	}
+	// Must contain `"regions": []` — never `"regions": null`.
+	if strings.Contains(string(raw), `"regions": null`) {
+		t.Fatalf("regions must serialise as [] (not null) so OpenTofu's `for r in var.regions` validator accepts the input. Got:\n%s", string(raw))
+	}
+	var parsed map[string]any
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(raw, &parsed); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("parse: %v", err)
+	}
+	regions, ok := parsed["regions"].([]any)
+	if !ok {
+		t.Fatalf("regions must be a JSON array, got %T (%v)", parsed["regions"], parsed["regions"])
+	}
+	if len(regions) != 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("regions must be empty when request has none, got %d entries", len(regions))
+	}
+}
+
 // TestWriteTfvars_EmitsSingularSizesWhenSet proves writeTfvars DOES emit
 // the singular SKU fields when the operator sets them explicitly. Guards
 // against a regression where an over-eager omission rule drops legitimate