128 lines
7.0 KiB
Markdown
128 lines
7.0 KiB
Markdown
---
|
|
layout: "language"
|
|
page_title: "Providers - Configuration Language"
|
|
description: |-
|
|
An overview of how to install and use providers, Terraform plugins that interact with services, cloud providers, and other APIs.
|
|
---
|
|
|
|
# Providers
|
|
|
|
> **Hands-on:** Try the [Perform CRUD Operations with Providers](https://learn.hashicorp.com/tutorials/terraform/provider-use?in=terraform/configuration-language&utm_source=WEBSITE&utm_medium=WEB_IO&utm_offer=ARTICLE_PAGE&utm_content=DOCS) tutorial on HashiCorp Learn.
|
|
|
|
Terraform relies on plugins called "providers" to interact with cloud providers,
|
|
SaaS providers, and other APIs.
|
|
|
|
Terraform configurations must declare which providers they require so that
|
|
Terraform can install and use them. Additionally, some providers require
|
|
configuration (like endpoint URLs or cloud regions) before they can be used.
|
|
|
|
## What Providers Do
|
|
|
|
Each provider adds a set of [resource types](/docs/language/resources/index.html)
|
|
and/or [data sources](/docs/language/data-sources/index.html) that Terraform can
|
|
manage.
|
|
|
|
Every resource type is implemented by a provider; without providers, Terraform
|
|
can't manage any kind of infrastructure.
|
|
|
|
Most providers configure a specific infrastructure platform (either cloud or
|
|
self-hosted). Providers can also offer local utilities for tasks like
|
|
generating random numbers for unique resource names.
|
|
|
|
## Where Providers Come From
|
|
|
|
Providers are distributed separately from Terraform itself, and each provider
|
|
has its own release cadence and version numbers.
|
|
|
|
The [Terraform Registry](https://registry.terraform.io/browse/providers)
|
|
is the main directory of publicly available Terraform providers, and hosts
|
|
providers for most major infrastructure platforms.
|
|
|
|
## How to Use Providers
|
|
|
|
To use resources from a given provider, you need to include some information
|
|
about it in your configuration. See the following pages for details:
|
|
|
|
- [Provider Requirements](/docs/language/providers/requirements.html)
|
|
documents how to declare providers so Terraform can install them.
|
|
|
|
- [Provider Configuration](/docs/language/providers/configuration.html)
|
|
documents how to configure settings for providers.
|
|
|
|
- [Dependency Lock File](/docs/language/dependency-lock.html)
|
|
documents an additional HCL file that can be included with a configuration,
|
|
which tells Terraform to always use a specific set of provider versions.
|
|
|
|
## Provider Installation
|
|
|
|
- Terraform Cloud and Terraform Enterprise install providers as part of every run.
|
|
|
|
- Terraform CLI finds and installs providers when
|
|
[initializing a working directory](/docs/cli/init/index.html). It can
|
|
automatically download providers from a Terraform registry, or load them from
|
|
a local mirror or cache. If you are using a persistent working directory, you
|
|
must reinitialize whenever you change a configuration's providers.
|
|
|
|
To save time and bandwidth, Terraform CLI supports an optional plugin
|
|
cache. You can enable the cache using the `plugin_cache_dir` setting in
|
|
[the CLI configuration file](/docs/cli/config/config-file.html).
|
|
|
|
To ensure Terraform always installs the same provider versions for a given
|
|
configuration, you can use Terraform CLI to create a
|
|
[dependency lock file](/docs/language/dependency-lock.html)
|
|
and commit it to version control along with your configuration. If a lock file
|
|
is present, Terraform Cloud, CLI, and Enterprise will all obey it when
|
|
installing providers.
|
|
|
|
> **Hands-on:** Try the [Lock and Upgrade Provider Versions](https://learn.hashicorp.com/tutorials/terraform/provider-versioning?in=terraform/configuration-language&utm_source=WEBSITE&utm_medium=WEB_IO&utm_offer=ARTICLE_PAGE&utm_content=DOCS) tutorial on HashiCorp Learn.
|
|
|
|
## How to Find Providers
|
|
|
|
To find providers for the infrastructure platforms you use, browse
|
|
[the providers section of the Terraform Registry](https://registry.terraform.io/browse/providers).
|
|
|
|
Some providers on the Registry are developed and published by HashiCorp, some
|
|
are published by platform maintainers, and some are published by users and
|
|
volunteers. The provider listings use the following badges to indicate who
|
|
develops and maintains a given provider.
|
|
|
|
<table border="0" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;">
|
|
<tbody>
|
|
<tr style="height: 21px;">
|
|
<td style="width: 12.4839%; height: 21px;"><strong>Tier</strong></td>
|
|
<td style="width: 55.7271%; height: 21px;"><strong>Description</strong></td>
|
|
<td style="width: 31.7889%; height: 21px;"><strong>Namespace</strong></td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
<tr style="height: 21px;">
|
|
<td style="width: 12.4839%; height: 21px;"><img src="/docs/registry/providers/images/official-tier.png" alt="" /></td>
|
|
<td style="width: 55.7271%; height: 21px;"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Official providers are owned and maintained by HashiCorp </span></i></td>
|
|
<td style="width: 31.7889%; height: 21px;"><code><span style="font-weight: 400;">hashicorp</span></code></td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
<tr style="height: 21px;">
|
|
<td style="width: 12.4839%; height: 21px;"><img src="/docs/registry/providers/images/verified-tier.png" alt="" /></td>
|
|
<td style="width: 55.7271%; height: 21px;"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Verified providers are owned and maintained by third-party technology partners. Providers in this tier indicate HashiCorp has verified the authenticity of the Provider’s publisher, and that the partner is a member of the </span></i><a href="https://www.hashicorp.com/ecosystem/become-a-partner/"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">HashiCorp Technology Partner Program</span></i></a><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span></i></td>
|
|
<td style="width: 31.7889%; height: 21px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Third-party organization, e.g. </span><code><span style="font-weight: 400;">mongodb/mongodbatlas</span></code></td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
<tr style="height: 21px;">
|
|
<td style="width: 12.4839%; height: 21px;"><img src="/docs/registry/providers/images/community-tier.png" alt="" /></td>
|
|
<td style="width: 55.7271%; height: 21px;">Community providers are published to the Terraform Registry by individual maintainers, groups of maintainers, or other members of the Terraform community.</td>
|
|
<td style="width: 31.7889%; height: 21px;"><br />Maintainer’s individual or organization account, e.g. <code>DeviaVir/gsuite</code></td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
<tr style="height: 21px;">
|
|
<td style="width: 12.4839%; height: 21px;"><img src="/docs/registry/providers/images/archived-tier.png" alt="" /></td>
|
|
<td style="width: 55.7271%; height: 21px;">Archived Providers are Official or Verified Providers that are no longer maintained by HashiCorp or the community. This may occur if an API is deprecated or interest was low.</td>
|
|
<td style="width: 31.7889%; height: 21px;"><code>hashicorp</code> or third-party</td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
</tbody>
|
|
</table>
|
|
|
|
|
|
## How to Develop Providers
|
|
|
|
Providers are written in Go, using the Terraform Plugin SDK. For more
|
|
information on developing providers, see:
|
|
|
|
- The [Extending Terraform](/docs/extend/index.html) documentation
|
|
- The [Call APIs with Terraform Providers](https://learn.hashicorp.com/collections/terraform/providers?utm_source=WEBSITE&utm_medium=WEB_IO&utm_offer=ARTICLE_PAGE&utm_content=DOCS)
|
|
collection on HashiCorp Learn
|