A complete guide to installing Terraform and setting up an optimal development environment. From CLI installation to an organized project structure.

What Will You Learn? #

Before writing a single line of Terraform code, you need to install the CLI, configure authentication, and set up a tidy directory structure. This section guides you from zero to being ready to develop.

Articles in This Section #

Setup Flow #

flowchart TD
    A["<b>1. Installation</b><br/>Download & install the Terraform CLI"] --> B["<b>2. Verification</b><br/>terraform version"]
    B --> C["<b>3. CLI Basics</b><br/>init, plan, apply, destroy"]
    C --> D["<b>4. Directory Structure</b><br/>Project organization"]
    D --> E["<b>5. Ready for Development</b><br/>Continue to Workflow"]

    style A fill:#e1f5fe
    style E fill:#c8e6c9

Platform Support #

flowchart LR
    subgraph macOS["macOS"]
        brew["brew install<br/>terraform"]
    end

    subgraph linux["Linux"]
        apt["apt install<br/>terraform"]
        yum["yum install<br/>terraform"]
    end

    subgraph windows["Windows"]
        choco["choco install<br/>terraform"]
        scoop["scoop install<br/>terraform"]
    end

    subgraph verify["Verification"]
        cmd["terraform version<br/>terraform -help"]
    end

    macOS --> verify
    linux --> verify
    windows --> verify

    style macOS fill:#e8f5e9
    style linux fill:#e3f2fd
    style windows fill:#fff3e0
    style verify fill:#f3e5f5

Recommended Directory Structure #

project/
├── main.tf          # Main resources
├── variables.tf     # Input variables
├── outputs.tf       # Output values
├── providers.tf     # Provider configuration
├── versions.tf      # Version constraints
├── terraform.tfvars # Variable values
└── modules/         # Local modules

After the installation is complete, continue to the Workflow section to learn how to run Terraform in practice.