Terraform
Sign up for HCP Terraform
Terraform is an infrastructure as code tool that lets you define and manage infrastructure resources through declarative, human-readable configuration files. Terraform reduces the risk of human error associated with performing manual operations by enabling you to use a consistent workflow to manage your resources over their lifecycle.
HCP Terraform supports your infrastructure operations as they mature and grow in complexity by managing Terraform runs in a reliable and secure remote environment. It securely stores state, credentials, and environment variables, and can connect to version control systems. HCP Terraform also provides a detailed view into your Terraform project with enhanced visibility into each Terraform operation and resources.
HCP Terraform helps you collaborate on each step of your infrastructure development process. For example, each time you plan a new change, your team can review and approve the plan before you apply it. It also automatically locks state during operations to prevent concurrent modifications that may corrupt the state file. HCP Terraform also helps you enforce best practice with policies and team management.
For more details on HCP Terraform features and plans, visit the feature overview and pricing page.
Workflows
HCP Terraform organizes your resources into workspaces, which contain your resource definitions, environment and input variables, and state files. When triggered, HCP Terraform executes a Terraform operation within a workspace. It uses the configuration and state for that workspace to modify your infrastructure.
HCP Terraform supports the following workflows:
- VCS-driven workflow: HCP Terraform fetches your configuration from your version control repository and automatically starts plan and apply operations whenever you make changes to the repository. This keeps your repository as the single source of truth for the workspace.
- CLI-driven workflow: Use your local Terraform CLI to start remote operations in HCP Terraform. HCP Terraform runs the operation and manages the state file.
- API-driven workflow: Use the HCP Terraform API to upload Terraform configuration changes and manage Terraform operations.
These tutorials introduce the VCS-driven workflow. To learn more about the CLI-driven workflow, refer to the CLI-driven remote run workflow documentation. To learn more about the API-driven workflow, refer to HCP Terraform's API documentation.
Sign up for HCP Terraform
To create an HCP Terraform account, visit the HCP Terraform sign-up page and follow the prompts to create a free HCP Terraform account.
After completing the sign-up form, HCP Terraform sends an email asking you to confirm your email address. Confirm your email address before moving on. When you click the confirmation link, HCP Terraform directs you to the Organizations page. Click Create organization.
Create an organization
You can create an organization of up to 5 users for free, and the members you add to the organization can collaborate on your workspaces and share private modules and providers.
Tip
Create a tutorial-specific organization to manage the workspaces you create while running HashiCorp tutorials. This gives you a convenient, isolated sandbox environment for learning HCP Terraform.
Enter an organization name and email address. You can use the same email address that you used for your account.
Click Create organization. In later tutorials, you will create and use a workspace within your new HCP Terraform organization.
Next Steps
In this tutorial, you created your new HCP Terraform account and an organization.
Continue to the next tutorial to create an HCP Terraform workspace from configuration stored in version control, define variable values, and perform a terraform apply operation remotely.