init.md

title	rootform init
description	Prepare an existing project selection locally.

init prepares the exact external Dialects and Policy Pack sources selected by rootform.lock. The optional path defaults to . and identifies the Rootform project to prepare; it need not be a Terraform/OpenTofu root. init does not detect providers, pick versions, or modify the lock.

Usage

rootform init [path] [options]

Options

Preparation

Flag	Type	Default	Description
--locked	bool	false	require and preserve the existing rootform.lock
--no-input	bool	false	never prompt; require deterministic action
--offline	bool	false	use no network; accept local and installed sources

Output

Flag	Type	Default	Description
--details	bool	false	list every prepared unit's status and source on standard error
--format	string	""	output format: text|json; default: text

Global options

Flag	Type	Default	Description
-h, --help	bool	false	show how to use rootform init
--color	mode	auto	color human output: auto|always|never; default: auto
--no-pager	bool	false	print a long report in full instead of opening it in less

Lock and acquisition

An existing lock is preserved. Without a lock, ordinary init has an empty selection; --locked instead requires an existing valid lock. Embedded Dialects need no acquisition. For selected OCI content, init may fetch only exact selected digests when network use is allowed. If a vendor family exists, init verifies its exact tree, including missing, extra, or changed content; a valid tree needs no installed copy or registry access. --offline restricts preparation to verified local content. --no-input disallows prompts and requires deterministic action.

Replace ./infra with an existing project directory. The --locked example requires that project to contain a valid rootform.lock beforehand. Run the first command to prepare its selection, the second to prove it can be prepared from local bytes alone, and the third when a machine-readable result is needed.

rootform init ./infra --no-input
rootform init ./infra --locked --offline --no-input
rootform init ./infra --format json

With external content selected, text output starts with Project prepared, then reports External Dialects and External Policy Packs counts. With no external content selected, it starts with Project ready, then reports External content none. Machine JSON goes to standard output; diagnostics and --details output go to standard error. Neither text nor JSON writes rootform.lock. Status 0 means preparation completed; 1 means selected content is invalid, missing, or differs from rootform.lock; 2 means the command was used incorrectly; 3 means rootform.lock is required or invalid, or --offline needs content that is not installed; and 4 means a file, the Rootform home, or the registry could not be read or written. See Select Dialects and Policy Packs and External content storage.