What is the purpose of terraform init?

What is the purpose of terraform init?

• A. Apply changes to infrastructure
• B. Validate configuration syntax
• C. Show planned changes
• D. Initialize the working directory and download modules

Answer: (D)

The main idea is that this command prepares your working environment for Terraform to run. It initializes the current directory so Terraform knows where to store state and how to interact with providers and modules. Specifically, it downloads and installs the required provider plugins and any modules referenced in your configuration, and it configures or initializes the backend if one is defined. This setup step creates the local .terraform directory and fetches all necessary binaries so subsequent commands can plan, apply, or inspect changes. Because of that, it’s not used to apply changes, validate syntax, or show planned changes. Those are done by separate commands. You run this initialization first (and when you add providers, modules, or backend settings) to prepare Terraform to operate on your configuration.

The main idea is that this command prepares your working environment for Terraform to run. It initializes the current directory so Terraform knows where to store state and how to interact with providers and modules. Specifically, it downloads and installs the required provider plugins and any modules referenced in your configuration, and it configures or initializes the backend if one is defined. This setup step creates the local .terraform directory and fetches all necessary binaries so subsequent commands can plan, apply, or inspect changes.

Because of that, it’s not used to apply changes, validate syntax, or show planned changes. Those are done by separate commands. You run this initialization first (and when you add providers, modules, or backend settings) to prepare Terraform to operate on your configuration.