---
layout: "intro"
page_title: "Installing Terraform"
sidebar_current: "gettingstarted-install"
description: |-
  Terraform must first be installed on your machine. Terraform is distributed as a binary package for all supported platforms and architecture. This page will not cover how to compile Terraform from source.
---

# Install Terraform

Terraform must first be installed on your machine. Terraform is distributed
as a [binary package](/downloads.html) for all supported platforms and
architecture. This page will not cover how to compile Terraform from
source.

## Installing Terraform

To install Terraform, find the [appropriate package](/downloads.html) for
your system and download it. Terraform is packaged as a zip archive.

After downloading Terraform, unzip the package into a directory where
Terraform will be installed. The directory will contain a binary program `terraform`. The final
step is to make sure the directory you installed Terraform to is on the
PATH. See
[this page](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/14637979/how-to-permanently-set-path-on-linux)
for instructions on setting the PATH on Linux and Mac.
[This page](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1618280/where-can-i-set-path-to-make-exe-on-windows)
contains instructions for setting the PATH on Windows.

Example for Linux/Mac - Type the following into your terminal:
>`PATH=/usr/local/terraform/bin:/home/your-user-name:$PATH`

Example for Windows - Type the following into Powershell:
>`[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("PATH", $env:PATH + ({;C:\terraform},{C:\terraform})[$env:PATH[-1] -eq ';'], "User")`


## Verifying the Installation

After installing Terraform, verify the installation worked by opening a new
terminal session and checking that `terraform` is available. By executing
`terraform` you should see help output similar to that below:

```
$ terraform
Usage: terraform [--version] [--help] <command> [args]

The available commands for execution are listed below.
The most common, useful commands are shown first, followed by
less common or more advanced commands. If you're just getting
started with Terraform, stick with the common commands. For the
other commands, please read the help and docs before usage.

Common commands:
    apply              Builds or changes infrastructure
    console            Interactive console for Terraform interpolations
    destroy            Destroy Terraform-managed infrastructure
    env                Environment management
    fmt                Rewrites config files to canonical format
    get                Download and install modules for the configuration
    graph              Create a visual graph of Terraform resources
    import             Import existing infrastructure into Terraform
    init               Initialize a new or existing Terraform configuration
    output             Read an output from a state file
    plan               Generate and show an execution plan
    push               Upload this Terraform module to Atlas to run
    refresh            Update local state file against real resources
    show               Inspect Terraform state or plan
    taint              Manually mark a resource for recreation
    untaint            Manually unmark a resource as tainted
    validate           Validates the Terraform files
    version            Prints the Terraform version

All other commands:
    debug              Debug output management (experimental)
    force-unlock       Manually unlock the terraform state
    state              Advanced state management
```

If you get an error that `terraform` could not be found, then your PATH
environment variable was not setup properly. Please go back and ensure
that your PATH variable contains the directory where Terraform was installed.

Otherwise, Terraform is installed and ready to go! Nice!

## Next Step

Time to [build infrastructure](/intro/getting-started/build.html)
using a minimal Terraform configuration file. You will be able to
examine Terraform's execution plan before you deploy it to AWS.