terraform init

terraform init command is used to initialize a working directory (.terraform/) containing Terraform configuration files: main.tf. Downloads plugins and retrieves teh source code from referenced modules.

• https://www.terraform.io/docs/cli/commands/init.html
• terraform init --help

During terraform init, the configuration is searched for module blocks, and the source code for referenced modules is retrieved from the locations given in their source arguments.

It is safe to run terraform init multiple times.

terraform init -> terraform plan ->  terraform apply -> terraform show

Commands

• terraform init
• terraform init -upgrade
• terraform init -reconfigure
• terraform init -migrate-state
• terraform init -get-plugins=false
• terraform init -verify-plugins=false
• terraform init -backend-config=bucket=your_bucket_name -backend-config=key=your-key-name/project/***/state.tfstate -backend-config=region=XXXXX -backend-config=access_key=XXXX -backend-config=secret_key=XXXX

Examples

• Examples: terraform init executions

Errors

• Error: Failed to query available provider packages
• Error: Unsupported Terraform Core version
• Error: Backend initialization required, please run "terraform init"
• Warning: Quoted references are deprecated
• Terraform has been successfully initialized!
• Initializing provider plugins...
• Terraform initialized in an empty directory!
• Error: Invalid multi-line string
• Error: Failed to get existing workspaces: S3 bucket does not exist.
• Error: Error accessing remote module registry
• Error: Unsupported argument

Related terms

• terraform apply, terraform validate, terraform show
• .terraform.lock.hcl
• .terraform/ or .terraform.d/
• .terraform/modules/
• source
• Backends: Terraform S3 backend
• Terraform EKS module
• terraform get, terraform get -update
• Terraform provider
• hashicorp/
• Terraform Plugin Framework

See also

• terraform init [ -upgrade | -reconfigure | -backend-config | -get-plugins=false | -verify-plugins=false ], --help, Execution examples, Execution with errors, ~/.terraformrc, required_providers
• Terraform configuration files, Terraform state files: .tf, .tfvars, main.tf, outputs.tf, variables.tf, .terraform.d/, terraform init, providers.tf, .terraform/, terraform.tfstate, .terraform.lock.hcl, terraform.tfstate.d, override.tf, versions.tf