Terraform MCP Server

What It Does

Two tool categories: Registry tools for discovering providers, modules, and policies from the Terraform Registry, and HCP Terraform/Enterprise tools for managing workspaces, variables, runs, and organizations. Claude can search the Registry for the right provider, read its documentation, and then manage your infrastructure workspaces — all through one server.

HashiCorp official. Supports both STDIO (local) and StreamableHTTP (remote/HA) transports. Stateful mode for session-aware workflows and stateless mode for load-balanced deployments.

What It Does Well

• Destructive operations disabled by default is the right security posture for infrastructure tools. Terraform can destroy resources. The server requires explicitly setting ENABLE_TF_OPERATIONS=true to unlock destructive commands. This is exactly how infrastructure MCP servers should handle the “Claude accidentally deletes my production cluster” scenario.
• Registry tools make Terraform discovery conversational. Instead of browsing the Terraform Registry website, ask Claude to find providers for a specific use case, read their documentation, and recommend the right one. This is genuinely useful for evaluating Terraform modules.
• One-click install badges for VS Code, VS Code Insiders, and Cursor. The GitHub README has install badges that configure the MCP server in a single click. Combined with Docker for the runtime, setup is fast.

What It Doesn’t Do Well

• Beta status means the API surface may change. HashiCorp labels this as beta. Tool names, parameters, or behaviors could change between versions. Pin your Docker image tag if stability matters.
• Docker or Go required — no npx path. Most MCP servers offer npx for JavaScript developers. Terraform MCP requires Docker (recommended) or building from Go source. Not a problem for infrastructure engineers who already have Docker, but it’s a higher bar than the npx ecosystem.

Setup Notes

Docker is the recommended path: docker run -i --rm hashicorp/terraform-mcp-server. For HCP Terraform workspace management, add TFE_TOKEN for authentication. For Terraform Enterprise, set TFE_HOSTNAME to your instance URL.

Go install is also available: go install github.com/hashicorp/terraform-mcp-server/cmd/terraform-mcp-server@latest.

Prebuilt binaries available at releases.hashicorp.com for air-gapped environments.

Security features include CORS strict mode, rate limiting, and TLS support for the HTTP transport mode.

Config

Docker (Registry tools only):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "terraform": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": ["run", "-i", "--rm", "hashicorp/terraform-mcp-server"]
    }
  }
}

Docker (with HCP Terraform):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "terraform": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run", "-i", "--rm",
        "-e", "TFE_TOKEN=your_token",
        "hashicorp/terraform-mcp-server"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Tested With

• Claude Desktop on Windows 11
• VS Code

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "terraform-mcp": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run",
        "-i",
        "--rm",
        "hashicorp/terraform-mcp-server"
      ]
    }
  }
}