---
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](/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](/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.

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`](/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](/docs/templates/hcl_templates/blocks/packer#version-constraints). The
plugins will be installed in the [Plugin
Directory](/docs/configure#packer-s-plugin-directory).

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

### Implicit required plugin

This is part of a set of breaking changes made to decouple Packer releases from
plugin releases. To make the transition easier, we will tag components of these
plugins as "moved out". If one of the components of a moved out plugin is used
in a config file, but there is no mention of that plugin in the
"required_plugin" block, then Packer init will automatically download and
install that plugin. Packer will then display a warning and suggest that you
add the plugin to your required_plugin block. We recommend you use the
required_plugin block even if you are only using official plugins, because it
allows you to set the plugin version to avoid surprises in the future.

## 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.
