Variables API reference

Important: The Variables API is deprecated and will be removed in a future release. All existing integrations with this API should transition to the Workspace Variables API.

This set of APIs covers create, update, list and delete operations on variables.

Create a Variable

POST /vars

Request Body

This POST endpoint requires a JSON object with the following properties as a request payload.

Properties without a default value are required.

Key path	Type	Default	Description
`data.type`	string		Must be `"vars"`.
`data.attributes.key`	string		The name of the variable.
`data.attributes.value`	string	`""`	The value of the variable.
`data.attributes.description`	string		The description of the variable.
`data.attributes.category`	string		Whether this is a Terraform or environment variable. Valid values are `"terraform"` or `"env"`.
`data.attributes.hcl`	bool	`false`	Whether to evaluate the value of the variable as a string of HCL code. Has no effect for environment variables.
`data.attributes.sensitive`	bool	`false`	Whether the value is sensitive. If true then the variable is written once and not visible thereafter.
`data.relationships.workspace.data.type`	string		Must be `"workspaces"`.
`data.relationships.workspace.data.id`	string		The ID of the workspace that owns the variable. Obtain workspace IDs from the workspace settings or the Show Workspace endpoint.

Deprecation warning: The custom filter properties are replaced by JSON API relationships and will be removed from future versions of the API!

Key path	Type	Default	Description
`filter.workspace.name`	string		The name of the workspace that owns the variable.
`filter.organization.name`	string		The name of the organization that owns the workspace.

Sample Payload

{
  "data": {
    "type":"vars",
    "attributes": {
      "key":"some_key",
      "value":"some_value",
      "description":"some description",
      "category":"terraform",
      "hcl":false,
      "sensitive":false
    },
    "relationships": {
      "workspace": {
        "data": {
          "id":"ws-4j8p6jX1w33MiDC7",
          "type":"workspaces"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Sample Request

curl \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  --header "Content-Type: application/vnd.api+json" \
  --request POST \
  --data @payload.json \
  https://app.terraform.io/api/v2/vars

Sample Response

{
  "data": {
    "id":"var-EavQ1LztoRTQHSNT",
    "type":"vars",
    "attributes": {
      "key":"some_key",
      "value":"some_value",
      "description":"some description",
      "sensitive":false,
      "category":"terraform",
      "hcl":false
    },
    "relationships": {
      "configurable": {
        "data": {
          "id":"ws-4j8p6jX1w33MiDC7",
          "type":"workspaces"
        },
        "links": {
          "related":"/api/v2/organizations/my-organization/workspaces/my-workspace"
        }
      }
    },
    "links": {
      "self":"/api/v2/vars/var-EavQ1LztoRTQHSNT"
    }
  }
}

List Variables

GET /vars

Query Parameters

These are standard URL query parameters. Remember to percent-encode [ as %5B and ] as %5D if your tooling doesn't automatically encode URLs.

Parameter	Description
`filter[workspace][name]`	Required The name of one workspace to list variables for.
`filter[organization][name]`	Required The name of the organization that owns the desired workspace.

These two parameters are optional but linked; if you include one, you must include both. Without a filter, this method lists variables for all workspaces where you have permission to read variables. (More about permissions.)

Sample Request

$ curl \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  --header "Content-Type: application/vnd.api+json" \
"https://app.terraform.io/api/v2/vars?filter%5Borganization%5D%5Bname%5D=my-organization&filter%5Bworkspace%5D%5Bname%5D=my-workspace"
# ?filter[organization][name]=my-organization&filter[workspace][name]=demo01

Sample Response

{
  "data": [
    {
      "id":"var-AD4pibb9nxo1468E",
      "type":"vars","attributes": {
        "key":"name",
        "value":"hello",
        "description":"some description",
        "sensitive":false,
        "category":"terraform",
        "hcl":false
      },
      "relationships": {
        "configurable": {
          "data": {
            "id":"ws-cZE9LERN3rGPRAmH",
            "type":"workspaces"
          },
          "links": {
            "related":"/api/v2/organizations/my-organization/workspaces/my-workspace"
          }
        }
      },
      "links": {
        "self":"/api/v2/vars/var-AD4pibb9nxo1468E"
      }
    }
  ]
}

Update Variables

PATCH /vars/:variable_id

Parameter	Description
`:variable_id`	The ID of the variable to be updated.

Request Body

This POST endpoint requires a JSON object with the following properties as a request payload.

Properties without a default value are required.

Key path	Type	Description
`data.type`	string	Must be `"vars"`.
`data.id`	string	The ID of the variable to update.
`data.attributes`	object	New attributes for the variable. This object can include `key`, `value`, `description`, `category`, `hcl`, and `sensitive` properties, which are described above under create a variable. All of these properties are optional; if omitted, a property will be left unchanged.

Sample Payload

{
  "data": {
    "id":"var-yRmifb4PJj7cLkMG",
    "attributes": {
      "key":"name",
      "value":"mars",
      "description": "new description",
      "category":"terraform",
      "hcl": false,
      "sensitive": false
    },
    "type":"vars"
  }
}

Sample Request

$ curl \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  --header "Content-Type: application/vnd.api+json" \
  --request PATCH \
  --data @payload.json \
  https://app.terraform.io/api/v2/vars/var-yRmifb4PJj7cLkMG

Sample Response

{
  "data": {
    "id":"var-yRmifb4PJj7cLkMG",
    "type":"vars",
    "attributes": {
      "key":"name",
      "value":"mars",
      "description":"new description",
      "sensitive":false,
      "category":"terraform",
      "hcl":false
    },
    "relationships": {
      "configurable": {
        "data": {
          "id":"ws-4j8p6jX1w33MiDC7",
          "type":"workspaces"
        },
        "links": {
          "related":"/api/v2/organizations/workspace-v2-06/workspaces/workspace-v2-06"
        }
      }
    },
    "links": {
      "self":"/api/v2/vars/var-yRmifb4PJj7cLkMG"
    }
  }
}

Delete Variables

DELETE /vars/:variable_id

Parameter	Description
`:variable_id`	The ID of the variable to be deleted.

Sample Request

$ curl \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  --header "Content-Type: application/vnd.api+json" \
  --request DELETE \
  https://app.terraform.io/api/v2/vars/var-yRmifb4PJj7cLkMG