---
layout: "accounts"
page_title: "User Authentication in Terraform Enterprise"
sidebar_current: "docs-enterprise-accounts-authentication"
description: |-
  Terraform Enterprise requires a username and password to sign up and login. However, there are several ways to authenticate with your account.
---

# Authentication with Terraform Enterprise

Terraform Enterprise requires a username and password to sign up and login. However,
there are several ways to authenticate with your account.

### Authentication Tokens

Authentication tokens are keys used to access your account via tools
or over the various APIs used in Terraform Enterprise.

You can create new tokens in the token section
of your account settings. It's important to keep tokens secure,
as they are essentially a password and can be used to access your
account or resources. Additionally, token authentication
bypasses two factor authentication.

### Authenticating Tools

All HashiCorp tools look for the `ATLAS_TOKEN` environment variable:

    $ export ATLAS_TOKEN=TOKEN

This will automatically authenticate all requests against
this token. This is the recommended way to authenticate with our various
tools. Care should be given to how this token is stored, as it is
as good as a password.

### Two Factor Authentication

You can optionally enable Two Factor authentication, requiring an
SMS or TOTP one-time code every time you log in, after entering
your username and password.

You can enable Two Factor authentication in the security section
of your account settings.

Be sure to save the generated recovery codes. Each backup code can
be used once to sign in if you do not have access to your two-factor
authentication device.


### Vagrant Login

Only Vagrant allows for a `vagrant login` command, but it can be
used to login and automatically create an authentication token from Vagrant.

	$ vagrant login
	# ...
	Atlas username:
	Atlas password:

You can read more about `vagrant login` and its options
in the [Vagrant documentation](https://docs.vagrantup.com/v2/cli/login.html). You
cannot use Vagrant login with Two Factor authentication.

### Sudo Mode

When accessing certain admin-level pages (adjusting your user profile, for example), you may notice that you're prompted for your password, even though you're already logged in. This is by design, and aims to help guard protect you if your screen is unlocked and unattended.

### Session Management

You can see a list of your active sessions on your security settings page. From here, you can revoke sessions, in case you have lost access to a machine from which you were accessing.