Install Terraform

This page describes the steps to install Terraform for Google Cloud in Cloud Shell and in a local shell. Cloud Shell is an interactive shell environment for Google Cloud that lets you learn and experiment with Google Cloud and manage your projects and resources from your web browser.

For a introductory guide to using Terraform with Google Cloud, see the Terraform for Google Cloud Quickstart.

Cloud Shell

To use an online terminal with the gcloud CLI and Terraform already set up, activate Cloud Shell:

At the bottom of this page, a Cloud Shell session starts and displays a command-line prompt. It can take a few seconds for the session to initialize.

Run the following command to verify that Terraform is available:

terraform

The output should be similar to the following:


Usage: terraform [global options] <subcommand> [args]

The available commands for execution are listed below.
The primary workflow commands are given first, followed by
less common or more advanced commands.

Main commands:
  init          Prepare your working directory for other commands
  validate      Check whether the configuration is valid
  plan          Show changes required by the current configuration
  apply         Create or update infrastructure
  destroy       Destroy previously-created infrastructure

To use Terraform with Google Cloud, you should ensure the following tasks are completed within Google Cloud:
- Create or have a Google Cloud project.
- Enable billing for the Google Cloud project.
- Enable APIs for the Google Cloud services you intend to work with.
- Set up authentication for Terraform.

Local shell

Use the installation instructions provided by Terraform.