The module root could not be found. There is nothing to output

Question

Running a terraform output in my root Terraform directory I get:

The module root could not be found. There is nothing to output.

I have the following files:

iam.tf:

resource "aws_iam_user" "a_user" {
  name = "a_user"
}

output.tf:

data "aws_caller_identity" "current" {}

output "account_id" {
  value = "${data.aws_caller_identity.current.account_id}"
}

This https://www.terraform.io/docs/modules/index.html says:

Root module That is the current working directory when you run terraform apply or get, holding the Terraform configuration files. It is itself a valid module.

Any idea why the error message and how to fix?

Answer 1

Terraform refers root module from terraform.tfstate file.

This file conatains all info about your last known state from .tf files along with output variables.

Which is generated after first execution terraform apply command into current directory.

Simply run terraform apply , then terraform output will shows your output variables.