Initialize a Terraform Working Directory

The command terraform init is used to initialize the directory containing a Terraform configuration. Once we’ve written a configuration or cloned one from source control, this is the first command we run.

Operations of the terraform init command

The terraform init command performs operations to prepare the directory holding the configuration for use. In general, they’re as follows:

• Prepare the state storage: Whether we’re using a local or remote back-end, terraform init prepares that back-end for use by Terraform’s state.

• Retrieve modules: The terraform init process checks for any modules being used, retrieves the modules from their source location, and places them in the config directory.

• Retrieve plugins: The terraform init process looks for all references, direct and indirect, to providers and provisioners and then retrieves the plugins from the desired location. ...