How can I use Terraform Cloud to manage itself? - terraform

Question

I created this simple example:
terraform {
required_version = "~> 1.0"
required_providers {
tfe = {
source = "hashicorp/tfe"
version = "~> 0.40"
}
}
cloud {
organization = "myorg"
workspaces {
name = "test-management"
}
}
}
resource "tfe_workspace" "test" {
organization = "myorg"
name = "test"
}
When I run the init command, it creates the test-management workspace as expected. The problem is that when I run the apply I get this error:
│ Error: Error creating workspace test for organization myorg: resource not found
│
│ with tfe_workspace.test,
│ on main.tf line 17, in resource "tfe_workspace" "test":
│ 17: resource "tfe_workspace" "test" {
Is it impossible to have Terraform Cloud manage its resources?

Answer 1

It's a must to define the API token. At first, I thought it would be done automatically by Terraform Cloud, but it isn't.
You can set the token variable in the provider "tfe" {} or the TFE_TOKEN environment variable. I recommend the environment variable using the sensitive mode so you don't leak the API token.

Answer 2

(I'm assuming that the problem is credentials-related due to the other existing answer.)
The hashicorp/tfe provider is (like all providers) a separate plugin program from Terraform itself, but it supports mostly the same methods for searching for credentials that Terraform CLI does.
If you use one of the following options then the credentials will work across both Terraform CLI and the hashicorp/tfe provider at the same time:
Run terraform login to generate a credentials file for the host app.terraform.io (Terraform Cloud's hostname) in your home directory.
Set the environment variable TF_TOKEN_app_terraform_io to an existing Terraform Cloud API token. Terraform CLI and hashicorp/terraform both treat this environment variable as equivalent to a credentials configuration like what terraform login would create.
(You only need to do one of these things; they all achieve a similar result.)