Before Terraform plans or builds anything, it decides whether it is allowed to interpret your configuration at all.
That decision lives in the terraform block.
In this short video, you will learn why required_version is evaluated before providers, resources, or dependency graphs, and how it protects meaning by constraining which Terraform binaries may reason about a configuration.
We also clarify the difference between engine constraints and provider constraints, and explain why Terraform’s deliberate refusal behavior is a correctness feature, not a usability flaw.
Watch the video below for a calm, concept-first explanation focused on accurate mental models, not recipes.