How to fix Error: organization required in Terraform

Update your Terraform configuration (typically in main.tf or a separate backend configuration file) to include the organization attribute:

terraform {
  cloud {
    organization = "my-org"
    
    workspaces {
      name = "my-workspace"
    }
  }
}

Replace "my-org" with your actual Terraform Cloud organization name. You can find your organization name in the Terraform Cloud web UI (app.terraform.io) in the top navigation or at https://app.terraform.io/app/{org-name}/workspaces.

If you want to use the same configuration across multiple organizations or keep sensitive values out of version control, use the TF_CLOUD_ORGANIZATION environment variable:

export TF_CLOUD_ORGANIZATION=my-org
terraform init

In your Terraform configuration, create an empty cloud block:

terraform {
  cloud {
    workspaces {
      name = "my-workspace"
    }
  }
}

Terraform will read the organization from the environment variable. This is useful in CI/CD pipelines where organization names may vary by environment.

Ensure you're authenticated to Terraform Cloud and the organization exists:

1. Run terraform login to authenticate:

terraform login

This creates a credentials file at ~/.terraform.d/credentials.tfrc.json with your API token.

2. Visit https://app.terraform.io/app and verify your organization exists. If you don't have an organization, create one by signing up or asking an organization admin to invite you.

3. Verify the organization slug matches exactly (case-sensitive) in your configuration.

If you're using partial backend configuration (for example, in a CI/CD pipeline), ensure all required organization settings are provided:

# Using -cloud-config flags (if using legacy backend syntax)
terraform init -backend-config="organization=my-org"

# Or set via environment variable
export TF_CLOUD_ORGANIZATION=my-org
terraform init

Note: The modern approach is to use the cloud block in your configuration with environment variables for dynamic values, rather than command-line flags.

If you're using the older remote backend syntax and need to switch to the cloud block:

Old syntax:

terraform {
  backend "remote" {
    organization = "my-org"
    workspaces {
      name = "my-workspace"
    }
  }
}

New syntax:

terraform {
  cloud {
    organization = "my-org"
    workspaces {
      name = "my-workspace"
    }
  }
}

After updating, run:

terraform init -migrate-state

This migrates your state from the old backend to the cloud block while maintaining compatibility.