A map value
The export has to hold JSON, because Terraform only parses primitives from an environment variable
region = "eu-west-1"
tags = {
env = "prod"
}Terraform tfvars to Env Vars Converter
Convert .tfvars assignments into TF_VAR_ exports for a shell or a pipeline. Two things catch people: complex values must be JSON, and these are the lowest-precedence source there is.
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Examples
Real input you can load into the tool above. Each one shows a different thing going wrong, because that is what the tool is for.
A reference in a tfvars file
There is no expression language while a tfvars file is read, so this cannot work at all
region = var.region
Common mistakes
These are the ones that fail silently. The config is accepted, nothing raises an error, and the consequence arrives later.
Exporting TF_VAR_ and finding it ignored
Environment variables are the lowest-precedence source. A terraform.tfvars or an *.auto.tfvars in the working directory silently wins.
Instead:Check the directory for a tfvars file setting the same name. Use -var on the command line if you need to override everything.
Writing HCL syntax into an environment variable
A list or a map in an environment variable must be JSON. TF_VAR_tags='{env="prod"}' fails as a type mismatch, which points at the declaration rather than the value.
Instead:Use JSON: TF_VAR_tags='{"env":"prod"}'.
Uppercasing the variable name
TF_VAR_REGION does not set var.region. On Windows the shell hides the difference, so the same script behaves differently across platforms.
Instead:Keep everything after TF_VAR_ identical to the variable name, character for character.
Environment variables lose to every tfvars file in the directory
The precedence order explains the commonest complaint about TF_VAR_, which is that setting it appears to do nothing at all.
The order, lowest to highest
Environment variables, then terraform.tfvars, then terraform.tfvars.json, then every *.auto.tfvars in alphabetical order, then -var-file and -var on the command line, with later winning. So exporting TF_VAR_region while a terraform.tfvars in the working directory also sets region has no effect, and nothing warns you.
Lists and maps must be JSON, not HCL
Terraform parses a primitive from an environment variable directly. A collection has to be valid JSON, so TF_VAR_tags='{"env":"prod"}' works and the HCL form with = between key and value does not. The error is a type mismatch rather than a syntax complaint, which sends people looking at the variable declaration.
The name after the prefix is case-sensitive
TF_VAR_REGION does not set var.region. This bites hardest on Windows, where the shell treats environment variable names as case-insensitive and Terraform does not, so a script that works in one shell fails in another with no visible difference.
An exported secret is visible more widely than a file
Every process the shell starts inherits it, it is readable from /proc for the process lifetime on Linux, and typing the export puts it in shell history. A tfvars file with restrictive permissions is often the safer option, and reading from a secret manager at the point of use is better than either.
Single quotes keep the shell out of the value
Anything with a space, a dollar sign, a backtick or a bracket needs quoting, and single quotes are the form that does not interpret. A value containing a single quote needs the '\'' dance, which the output here already does.
A tfvars file holds literals only
There is no expression language available while it is read: no variables, no locals, no functions. So a reference in a tfvars file is a parse error rather than something to convert, and the logic belongs in a local in the configuration.
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