---
description: |
  The `packer init` Packer command is used to download Packer plugin binaries.
page_title: packer init - Commands
---

# `init` Command

-> **Note:** Packer init does not work with legacy JSON templates. You can
upgrade your JSON config files to HCL using the [hcl2_upgrade](/packer/docs/commands/hcl2_upgrade) command.

-> **Note:** Packer init will only work with multi-component plugins -- that is
plugins that are named `packer-plugin-*`. To install a single-component plugin --
that is `packer-provisioner-*`, `packer-builder-*`, etc. -- nothing changes, you will
have to [install the plugin manually](/packer/docs/plugins#installing-plugins).

The `packer init` command is used to download Packer plugin binaries. This is
the first command that should be executed when working with a new or existing
template. This command is always safe to run multiple times. Though subsequent
runs may give errors, this command will never delete anything.

You should invoke `packer init` on either an HCL2 template, or a directory that contains
at least a valid HCL2 template, and eventually other related dependencies like varfiles
for example.

Example:

```sh
$ ls .
template.pkr.hcl varfile.pkrvars.pkr.hcl

$ packer init template.pkr.hcl # You can invoke packer init on a single template in this case
                               # This works if the template is self-contained, but may fail if
                               # the template is meant to be built as a bundle of partials.

$ packer init .                # Alternatively, you can invoke packer init on a directory instead,
                               # which behaves the same in a configuration like this one, but if
                               # the target is a collection ofHCL2 templates, this is the
                               # preferred way to invoke it.
```

Packer does not currently have the notion of a state like Terraform has. In other words,
currently `packer init` is only in charge of installing Packer plugins.

Currently, `packer init` can only fetch binaries from public projects on **GitHub**. GitHub's public API, [limits the number of unauthenticated requests
per hour one IP can
do](https://docs.github.com/en/developers/apps/rate-limits-for-github-apps#normal-user-to-server-rate-limits).
Packer will do its best to avoid hitting those limits and in an average local
usage this should not be an issue. Otherwise you can set the
`PACKER_GITHUB_API_TOKEN` env var in order to get more requests per hour. Go to
your personal [access token page](https://github.com/settings/tokens) to
generate a new token.

`packer init` will list all installed plugins then download the latest versions
for the ones that are missing.

`packer init -upgrade` will try to get the latest versions for all plugins.

Import a plugin using the [`required_plugin`](/packer/docs/templates/hcl_templates/blocks/packer#specifying-plugin-requirements)
block :

```hcl
packer {
  required_plugins {
    happycloud = {
      version = ">= 2.7.0"
      source = "github.com/azr/happycloud"
    }
  }
}
```

HashiCorp does not officially verify third party Packer plugins, plugins not under the HashiCorp namespace `hashicorp/*`; as with all open source tools, please do your own due diligence when using a new tool.

## Plugin Selection

Plugin selection depends on the source and version constraints defined within the `required_plugins` block.
For each of the required plugins Packer will query the source repository `github.com/azr/happycloud` whose fully qualified address
is `https://github.com/azr/packer-plugin-happycloud` for a plugin matching the version constraints for the host operating system.

Packer init will install the latest found version matching the version selection
in the `required_plugins` section. Make sure to set a correct [version
constraint
string](/packer/docs/templates/hcl_templates/blocks/packer#version-constraints). The
plugins will be installed in the [Plugin
Directory](/packer/docs/configure#packer-s-plugin-directory).

See [Installing Plugins](/packer/docs/plugins#installing-plugins) for more information on how plugin installation works.

## Options

- `-upgrade` - On top of installing missing plugins, update installed plugins to
  the latest available version, if there is a new higher one. Note that this
  still takes into consideration the version constraint of the config.
