43 lines
1.6 KiB
Markdown
43 lines
1.6 KiB
Markdown
---
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layout: "language"
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page_title: "Publishing Modules"
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sidebar_current: "docs-modules-publish"
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description: |-
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A module is a container for multiple resources that are used together.
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---
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# Publishing Modules
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If you've built a module that you intend to be reused, we recommend
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[publishing the module](/docs/registry/modules/publish.html) on the
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[Terraform Registry](https://registry.terraform.io). This will version
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your module, generate documentation, and more.
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Published modules can be easily consumed by Terraform, and users can
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[constrain module versions](/docs/language/modules/syntax.html#version)
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for safe and predictable updates. The following example shows how a caller
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might use a module from the Terraform Registry:
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```hcl
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module "consul" {
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source = "hashicorp/consul/aws"
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}
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```
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If you do not wish to publish your modules in the public registry, you can
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instead use a [private registry](/docs/registry/private.html) to get
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the same benefits.
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## Distribution via other sources
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Although the registry is the native mechanism for distributing re-usable
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modules, Terraform can also install modules from
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[various other sources](/docs/language/modules/sources.html). The alternative sources
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do not support the first-class versioning mechanism, but some sources have
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their own mechanisms for selecting particular VCS commits, etc.
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We recommend that modules distributed via other protocols still use the
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[standard module structure](/docs/language/modules/develop/structure.html) so that they can
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be used in a similar way as a registry module or be published on the registry
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at a later time.
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