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In this lesson, you’ll learn how to install OpenTofu—the community-driven fork of Terraform—and get up to speed with writing configuration files in HashiCorp Configuration Language (HCL). We’ll cover:
  • Installing the tofu CLI
  • Writing HCL .tf files
  • Examples for local and AWS resources
  • A step-by-step OpenTofu workflow

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Table of Contents

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Installing OpenTofu

OpenTofu ships as a single binary. Download the appropriate archive for your OS, unpack it, and move tofu into your system PATH: 
wget https://github.com/opentofu/opentofu/releases/download/v1.6.1/tofu_1.6.1_linux_amd64.zip
unzip tofu_1.6.1_linux_amd64.zip
mv tofu /usr/local/bin/
tofu version
Expected output: 
OpenTofu v1.6.1
on linux_amd64
You’re now ready to write HCL configuration files and provision resources.

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HCL Configuration Files

HCL .tf files consist of blocks (grouping of settings) and arguments (key-value pairs) that define the desired state of your infrastructure.

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Example: Managing Local Files

Create local.tf to manage a simple text file: 
resource "local_file" "pet" {
  filename = "/root/pets.txt"
  content  = "We love pets!"
}
  • resource: Block type
  • "local_file": Provider local, resource file
  • "pet": Logical name
  • Inside {}: Arguments like filename and content

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AWS Resource Examples

HCL syntax stays consistent across providers. Here are two common AWS examples:
Resource TypeHCL SnippetDescription
EC2 Instanceresource "aws_instance" "web" { ... }Launches a virtual server
S3 Bucketresource "aws_s3_bucket" "data" { ... }Creates object storage

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EC2 Instance

resource "aws_instance" "web" {
  ami           = "ami-0c2f25c1f66a1ff4d"
  instance_type = "t2.micro"
}

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S3 Bucket

resource "aws_s3_bucket" "data" {
  bucket = "webserver-bucket-org-2207"
  acl    = "private"
}

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What Is a Resource?

A resource is any object OpenTofu manages—either locally or in the cloud. Examples include:
ScopeExamples
Localfiles, directories
AWSEC2 instances, S3 buckets, IAM users, Lambda
GCPCompute Engine instances, App Engine applications
AzureSQL Databases, Azure Active Directory resources

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OpenTofu Workflow

Provisioning with OpenTofu follows four main steps:
  1. Write your HCL configuration files.
  2. Initialize with tofu init.
  3. Review changes using tofu plan.
  4. Apply changes via tofu apply.

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1. Initialize the Directory

tofu init
Output: 
Initializing the backend...

Initializing provider plugins...
- Finding 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/

A lock file (.terraform.lock.hcl) has been created. Commit it to version control.
OpenTofu has been successfully initialized!
The generated lock file (.terraform.lock.hcl) ensures repeatable installs of provider versions.

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2. Preview the Execution Plan

tofu plan

+ resource "local_file" "pet" {
    + filename = "/root/pets.txt"
    + content  = "We love pets!"
}
Plan: 1 to add, 0 to change, 0 to destroy.

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3. Apply the Changes

tofu apply

OpenTofu will perform the following actions:
  + resource "local_file" "pet" {
      + content              = "We love pets!"
      + filename             = "/root/pets.txt"
      + id                   = (known after apply)
    }

Plan: 1 to add, 0 to change, 0 to destroy.
Enter a value: yes

local_file.pet: Creating...
local_file.pet: Creation complete after 0s [id=cba595b7d9f94ba…]
Apply complete! Resources: 1 added, 0 changed, 0 destroyed.
Using -auto-approve skips the confirmation prompt. Always review your plan before auto-approving:
tofu apply -auto-approve

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4. Verify and Inspect

cat /root/pets.txt
tofu show local_file.pet
# (Displays state details)

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Viewing Resource Arguments

Each resource has required and optional arguments. Consult the provider’s official docs to discover available fields. For example, the local provider’s local_file resource lists filename as required, with optional settings like directory_permission.
The image shows a diagram and text explaining the use of a local provider for managing files, including required and optional arguments like filename, content, and permissions.
That’s it for this lesson! Next, we’ll dive into updating and destroying resources with OpenTofu.

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