Using OpenTofu Providers

1. Initializing Your Directory
2. Provider Types
3. Plugin Naming Conventions
Examples
4. References

OpenTofu relies on a plugin-based architecture to manage providers, enabling you to provision resources across AWS, GCP, Azure, and many more platforms. This guide covers how to initialize your working directory, understand provider types, and reference provider plugins in your configurations.

1. Initializing Your Directory

Run the following command in a directory containing your OpenTofu configuration files:

tofu init

When executed against valid .tf files, tofu init will:

Install all required provider plugins.
Create a lock file (.terraform.lock.hcl) to pin provider versions.
Ensure idempotent behavior: rerunning does not alter existing infrastructure.

$ tofu init

Initializing the backend...

Initializing provider plugins...
- Finding the latest version of hashicorp/local...
- Installing hashicorp/local v2.4.1...
- Installed hashicorp/local v2.4.1 (signed, key ID 0C0AF313E5FD9F80)

Providers are signed by their developers.
If you'd like to know more about provider signing, see:
  https://opentofu.org/docs/cli/plugins/signing/

OpenTofu has created a lock file .terraform.lock.hcl to record the provider
selections it made above. Include this file in your version control repository
so that OpenTofu can guarantee the same selections next time you run "tofu init".

OpenTofu has been successfully initialized!

Always commit the .terraform.lock.hcl file to your VCS. This ensures consistent provider versions across environments.

Plugins are stored under the hidden directory .terraform/providers in your working directory.

2. Provider Types

Providers are distributed via Terraform Registry and OpenTofu Registry, and fall into three categories:

Provider Type	Maintainer	Registry Badge
Official	HashiCorp	Official badge
Verified	Third-party (reviewed by HashiCorp)	Checkmark badge
Community	Individual contributors	No badge

The image is a diagram showing HashiCorp's providers, including AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, and others, leading to the Terraform and OpenTofu registries.

3. Plugin Naming Conventions

Each provider is referenced by a source address with this structure:

<hostname>/<namespace>/<type>

hostname (optional): Defaults to registry.opentofu.org if omitted.
namespace: Organization or author (e.g., hashicorp).
type: Provider name (e.g., aws, local).

Examples

Using the default registry:

terraform {
  required_providers {
    local = {
      source  = "hashicorp/local"  # Implicitly registry.opentofu.org
      version = "~> 2.4.0"
    }
  }
}

Using the fully qualified address:

terraform {
  required_providers {
    local = {
      source  = "registry.opentofu.org/hashicorp/local"
      version = "~> 2.4.0"
    }
  }
}

4. References

Watch Video

Demo HCL Basics

Demo OpenTofu Providers

⌘I

Course Introduction

Introduction to Infrastructure as Code

Remote State

Course Conclusion

Getting Started with Open Tofu

Open Tofu Basics

Open Tofu Beyond Basics

Open Tofu Functions and Conditional Expressions

Open Tofu Import Tainting Resources and Deubugging

Open Tofu Modules

Open Tofu Provisioners

Open Tofu State

Working with Open Tofu

Using OpenTofu Providers

1. Initializing Your Directory

2. Provider Types

3. Plugin Naming Conventions

Examples

4. References

Watch Video

Course Introduction

Introduction to Infrastructure as Code

Remote State

Course Conclusion

Getting Started with Open Tofu

Open Tofu Basics

Open Tofu Beyond Basics

Open Tofu Functions and Conditional Expressions

Open Tofu Import Tainting Resources and Deubugging

Open Tofu Modules

Open Tofu Provisioners

Open Tofu State

Working with Open Tofu

​1. Initializing Your Directory

​2. Provider Types

​3. Plugin Naming Conventions

​Examples

​4. References

Watch Video

1. Initializing Your Directory

2. Provider Types

3. Plugin Naming Conventions

Examples

4. References