Quick Setup
One command enables autocomplete for your shell:
terraform -install-autocomplete
Then restart your shell:
exec $SHELL # Or close and reopen your terminal
Now press Tab after typing terraform and subcommands auto-complete.
What Gets Auto-Completed
After enabling autocomplete:
terraform pl<Tab> → terraform plan
terraform ap<Tab> → terraform apply
terraform st<Tab> → terraform state
terraform state l<Tab> → terraform state list
terraform state s<Tab> → terraform state show
terraform w<Tab> → terraform workspace
Terraform autocomplete covers:
- Subcommands:
init,plan,apply,destroy,state,workspace, etc. - Flags:
-auto-approve,-target,-var,-var-file, etc. - Sub-subcommands:
state list,state show,state mv,workspace new, etc.
Setup by Shell
Bash
# Install autocomplete (adds to ~/.bashrc)
terraform -install-autocomplete
# Restart shell
exec bash
What it adds to ~/.bashrc:
complete -C /usr/local/bin/terraform terraform
This tells Bash to use the terraform binary itself for completion suggestions.
Manual install (if the auto-install doesn’t work):
echo 'complete -C /usr/local/bin/terraform terraform' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc
Replace /usr/local/bin/terraform with the actual path — find it with which terraform.
Zsh
# Install autocomplete (adds to ~/.zshrc)
terraform -install-autocomplete
# Restart shell
exec zsh
What it adds to ~/.zshrc:
autoload -U +X bashcompinit && bashcompinit
complete -C /usr/local/bin/terraform terraform
Manual install:
cat >> ~/.zshrc << 'EOF'
autoload -U +X bashcompinit && bashcompinit
complete -C /usr/local/bin/terraform terraform
EOF
source ~/.zshrc
Fish
Fish shell requires a different approach since it doesn’t use complete -C:
# Create the completion file
terraform -install-autocomplete
If that doesn’t work for Fish, install the community completions:
# Using Fisher
fisher install lgathy/google-cloud-sdk-fish-completion
# Or manually create completions
mkdir -p ~/.config/fish/completions
# Add terraform completions
macOS Notes
On macOS, Bash uses ~/.bash_profile instead of ~/.bashrc by default. If autocomplete doesn’t work:
# Check which file your shell loads
echo $SHELL
# For macOS Bash (before Catalina)
echo 'complete -C /usr/local/bin/terraform terraform' >> ~/.bash_profile
source ~/.bash_profile
# For macOS Zsh (Catalina and later, default shell)
terraform -install-autocomplete # Writes to ~/.zshrc
exec zsh
Verify It Works
After installation:
terraform <Tab><Tab>
You should see a list of all Terraform subcommands:
apply console fmt get import
init login logout output plan
providers refresh show state taint
test untaint validate version workspace
destroy force-unlock graph metadata
Troubleshooting
Autocomplete doesn’t work after install
Check the terraform path:
which terraform
# /usr/local/bin/terraform
Make sure the path in your shell config matches:
grep terraform ~/.bashrc # or ~/.zshrc
# complete -C /usr/local/bin/terraform terraform
If the paths don’t match, update the complete -C line.
“command not found: compdef” (Zsh)
Missing bashcompinit. Add this before the complete line:
autoload -U +X bashcompinit && bashcompinit
Already installed error
Error installing autocomplete: already installed in /home/user/.bashrc
Autocomplete is already set up. Just restart your shell:
exec $SHELL
Autocomplete stopped working after Terraform upgrade
The complete -C path may point to the old binary. Update it:
# Remove old entry
terraform -uninstall-autocomplete
# Reinstall
terraform -install-autocomplete
exec $SHELL
Doesn’t work in tmux/screen
Make sure your shell config file is sourced in non-login shells. Add to ~/.bashrc (not just ~/.bash_profile).
Uninstall Autocomplete
terraform -uninstall-autocomplete
exec $SHELL
Bonus: Alias Autocomplete
If you use a Terraform alias, add completion for it too:
# In ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc
alias tf="terraform"
complete -C /usr/local/bin/terraform tf
Now tf pl<Tab> completes to tf plan.
Hands-On Courses
Learn by doing with interactive courses on CopyPasteLearn:
Conclusion
Run terraform -install-autocomplete and restart your shell. That’s it. Works with Bash, Zsh, and Fish. If you use a tf alias, add complete -C $(which terraform) tf to your shell config. Tab completion saves time and prevents typos on every Terraform command.
