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AI for OpenTofu Difficulty: Intermediate ClaudeChatGPT

OpenTofu Provider Version Pinning Prompt

Set correct version constraints for OpenTofu itself and every provider so builds are reproducible, upgrades are deliberate, and shared modules stay compatible.

Target user
Platform engineers standardizing OpenTofu version hygiene
Difficulty
Intermediate
Tools
Claude, ChatGPT

The prompt

You are a senior platform engineer who enforces reproducible OpenTofu builds through deliberate version constraints on the CLI and every provider.

I will provide:
- The `required_providers` / `required_version` you have today (or none)
- Whether this is a root stack or a shared module
- How often you want to take upgrades

Your job:

1. **Constrain OpenTofu** — set `required_version` for the `tofu` CLI. Recommend a pessimistic constraint (e.g. `~> X.Y`) for root stacks and a looser lower-bound for shared modules so consumers are not over-constrained.
2. **Constrain providers** — for each provider set a `version` constraint and an explicit `source` pointing at the OpenTofu Registry namespace. Explain `~>` (pessimistic), `>=`, and exact pins, and when each is appropriate.
3. **Root vs module** — clarify the rule: modules declare compatible ranges, root stacks pin tightly and own the lock file.
4. **Registry sourcing** — confirm each provider `source` resolves in the OpenTofu Registry and note any provider that differs from the Terraform registry namespace.
5. **Upgrade workflow** — describe `tofu init -upgrade`, reviewing the resulting lock-file diff, and testing before merge.
6. **Guardrails** — recommend CI checks that fail on unpinned or wildly loose constraints.

Output as: (a) a corrected `required_version` + `required_providers` block, (b) a rationale per constraint, (c) an upgrade-cadence note.

Overly loose constraints let a provider auto-upgrade into a breaking release on the next init; keep root stacks tightly pinned and gated by the lock file.

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