(ec2): __jsii_type__ error when calling aws_ec2.Vpc.from_lookup() in Python

I am attempting to have a decoupled multistack deployment in Python for the CDK and I am running into an issue where it throws an AttributeError: type object 'tuple' has no attribute '__jsii_type__' when performing cdk synth. This issue looks very similar to this aws/jsii/issues/483 which appears to be resolved through this issue aws/jsii/issues/537.

However, in the Python aws_ec2.Vpc.from_lookup() call it appears to resurface. I verified this is isolated to Python as I created a Typescript project and replicated the code shown below and it works fine.

Considering the impact of this, I would be okay if there were a workaround while this gets resolved such as writing one of the stacks in Typescript and formatting the project such that both the Python CDK stacks and Typescript CDK stack are able to be synthesized from the same project.

If the fix seems achievable as a first issue, I’m happy to try and resolve this myself.

Reproduction Steps

• Run cdk synth with the following code:

from aws_cdk import (
    core,
    aws_ec2 as ec2,
)

class TwitterStreamAppStack(core.Stack):

    def __init__(
        self,
        scope: core.Construct,
        id: str,
        **kwargs,
    ) -> None:
        super().__init__(scope, id, **kwargs)

        vpc = ec2.Vpc.from_lookup(
            self, "vpc", vpc_id='vpc-06587757a30949b2e',
        )

What did you expect to happen?

I expected to be able to import an existing VPC into the CDK application

What actually happened?

The following exception occurs when executing cdk synth

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "app.py", line 30, in <module>
    twitter_stream_app = TwitterStreamAppStack(
  File "/Users/blackenyart/gh_projects/data_pipeline_practice/.venv/lib/python3.8/site-packages/jsii/_runtime.py", line 73, in __call__
    inst = super().__call__(*args, **kwargs)
  File "/Users/blackenyart/gh_projects/data_pipeline_practice/data_pipeline_practice/twitter_stream_app_stack.py", line 38, in __init__
    vpc = ec2.Vpc.from_lookup(
  File "/Users/blackenyart/gh_projects/data_pipeline_practice/.venv/lib/python3.8/site-packages/aws_cdk/aws_ec2/__init__.py", line 38363, in from_lookup
    return jsii.sinvoke(cls, "fromLookup", [scope, id, options])
  File "/Users/blackenyart/gh_projects/data_pipeline_practice/.venv/lib/python3.8/site-packages/jsii/_kernel/__init__.py", line 126, in wrapped
    return _recursize_dereference(kernel, fn(kernel, *args, **kwargs))
  File "/Users/blackenyart/gh_projects/data_pipeline_practice/.venv/lib/python3.8/site-packages/jsii/_kernel/__init__.py", line 353, in sinvoke
    args=_make_reference_for_native(self, args),
  File "/Users/blackenyart/gh_projects/data_pipeline_practice/.venv/lib/python3.8/site-packages/jsii/_kernel/__init__.py", line 141, in _make_reference_for_native
    return [_make_reference_for_native(kernel, i) for i in d]
  File "/Users/blackenyart/gh_projects/data_pipeline_practice/.venv/lib/python3.8/site-packages/jsii/_kernel/__init__.py", line 141, in <listcomp>
    return [_make_reference_for_native(kernel, i) for i in d]
  File "/Users/blackenyart/gh_projects/data_pipeline_practice/.venv/lib/python3.8/site-packages/jsii/_kernel/__init__.py", line 154, in _make_reference_for_native
    "data": {
  File "/Users/blackenyart/gh_projects/data_pipeline_practice/.venv/lib/python3.8/site-packages/jsii/_kernel/__init__.py", line 155, in <dictcomp>
    jsii_name: _make_reference_for_native(
  File "/Users/blackenyart/gh_projects/data_pipeline_practice/.venv/lib/python3.8/site-packages/jsii/_kernel/__init__.py", line 174, in _make_reference_for_native
    kernel.create(d.__class__, d)
  File "/Users/blackenyart/gh_projects/data_pipeline_practice/.venv/lib/python3.8/site-packages/jsii/_kernel/__init__.py", line 267, in create
    fqn=klass.__jsii_type__ or "Object",
AttributeError: type object 'tuple' has no attribute '__jsii_type__'
Subprocess exited with error 1

Environment

• CDK CLI Version : 1.83.0 (build 827c5f4)
• Framework Version: 1.83.0
• Node.js Version: v15.7.0
• OS : macOS Catalina 10.15.7 (19H114)
• Language (Version): Python 3.8.7

Other

• https://github.com/aws/jsii/issues/483
• https://github.com/aws/jsii/issues/537
• https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/issues/12160

---

This is 🐛 Bug Report

[rix0rrr]

I think you are now pasting the contents of cdk.context.json in your new solution.

Can you paste them from the project that threw the __jsii_type__ error when you were using Vpc.from_lookup()? It should look somewhat like this:

  "vpc-provider:account=993655754359:filter.isDefault=true:region=us-east-2:returnAsymmetricSubnets=true": {
    "vpcId": "vpc-4407e42d",
    "vpcCidrBlock": "172.31.0.0/16",
    "availabilityZones": [],
    "subnetGroups": [
      ....
}

[github-actions[bot]]

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