Environment Variable Configuration (Recommended for CI/CD)

For CI/CD pipelines and automated deployments, using environment variables is often more secure and convenient than storing credentials in configuration files. Terraform automatically detects and uses host-specific environment variables.

Setting Up Environment Variables

Set the JFrog URL.

export JFROG_URL=https://[JFrogPlatformURL]

Set the Access Token.

export JFROG_ACCESS_TOKEN=your-access-token-here

Environment Variable Naming Convention

Terraform uses the following naming pattern for environment variables:

TF_VAR_<variable_name> for Terraform variables
Host-specific variables like JFROG_URL and JFROG_ACCESS_TOKEN for provider configuration

CI/CD Pipeline Example

For GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, or other CI/CD systems:

# GitHub Actions example
- name: Configure JFrog credentials
  run: |
    echo "JFROG_URL=https://[JFrogPlatformURL]" >> $GITHUB_ENV
    echo "JFROG_ACCESS_TOKEN=${{ secrets.JFROG_ACCESS_TOKEN }}" >> $GITHUB_ENV

Benefits of Environment Variable Approach

Security: Credentials are not stored in version control
Simplicity: No need to create or manage configuration files
Flexibility: Easy to switch between different environments
CI/CD Friendly: Seamless integration with automated deployment pipelines

Fallback to Configuration File

If environment variables are not set, Terraform will fall back to:

CLI configuration file (~/.terraformrc or %APPDATA%\terraform.rc)
Terraform configuration files (.tf files)

To learn more, see Terraform CLI configuration.