CLI Configuration File (.terraformrc/terraform.rc)

The CLI configuration file configures per-user settings for CLI behaviors, which apply across all Terraform working directories. This is separate from your infrastructure configuration.

Location

The configuration is placed in a single file whose location depends on the host operating system:

• On Windows, the file must be named named terraform.rc and placed in the relevant user's "Application Data" directory. The physical location of this directory depends on your Windows version and system configuration; use $env:APPDATA in PowerShell to find its location on your system.
• On all other systems, the file must be named .terraformrc (note the leading period) and placed directly in the home directory of the relevant user.

On Windows, beware of Windows Explorer's default behavior of hiding filename extensions. Terraform will not recognize a file named terraform.rc.txt as a CLI configuration file, even though Windows Explorer may display its name as just terraform.rc. Use dir from PowerShell or Command Prompt to confirm the filename.

Configuration File Syntax

The configuration file uses the same HCL syntax as .tf files, but with different attributes and blocks. The following example illustrates the general syntax; see the following section for information on the meaning of each of these settings:

plugin_cache_dir   = "$HOME/.terraform.d/plugin-cache"
disable_checkpoint = true

Available Settings

The following settings can be set in the CLI configuration file:

• disable_checkpoint — when set to true, disables upgrade and security bulletin checks that require reaching out to HashiCorp-provided network services.

• disable_checkpoint_signature — when set to true, allows the upgrade and security bulletin checks described above but disables the use of an anonymous id used to de-duplicate warning messages.

• plugin_cache_dir — enables plugin caching and specifies, as a string, the location of the plugin cache directory.

• credentials — provides credentials for use with Terraform Enterprise's private module registry. This is only necessary when running Terraform on the command line; runs managed by Terraform Enterprise can access private modules automatically.

  This setting is a repeatable block, where the block label is a hostname (either app.terraform.io or the hostname of your private install) and the block body contains a token attribute. Whenever Terraform requests module data from that hostname, it will authenticate with that token.

  credentials "app.terraform.io" {
    token = "xxxxxx.atlasv1.zzzzzzzzzzzzz"
  }
  

  Note: The credentials hostname must match the hostname in your module sources. If your Terraform Enterprise instance is available at multiple hostnames, use one of them consistently. (The SaaS version of Terraform Enterprise responds to API calls at both its newer hostname, app.terraform.io, and its historical hostname, atlas.hashicorp.com.)

Deprecated Settings

The following settings are supported for backward compatibility but are no longer recommended for use:

• providers - a configuration block that allows specifying the locations of specific plugins for each named provider. This mechanism is deprecated because it is unable to specify a version number for each plugin, and thus it does not co-operate with the plugin versioning mechansim. Instead, place the plugin executable files in the third-party plugins directory.