# Tfstacks init - failed to start Terraform plugin

**URL:** <https://discuss.hashicorp.com/t/tfstacks-init-failed-to-start-terraform-plugin/70772>\
**Category:** Terraform\
**Created:** [October 18, 2024, 8:08pm UTC](https://discuss.hashicorp.com/t/tfstacks-init-failed-to-start-terraform-plugin/70772 "2024-10-18T20:08:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![jay.stockhausen](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/hashicorp/user_avatar/discuss.hashicorp.com/jay.stockhausen/32/43506_2.png) [@jay.stockhausen](https://discuss.hashicorp.com/u/jay.stockhausen)\
**Post date:** [October 18, 2024, 8:08pm UTC](https://discuss.hashicorp.com/t/tfstacks-init-failed-to-start-terraform-plugin/70772/1 "2024-10-18T20:08:47Z")

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New issue.  
First time running `tfstacks` command.  
I expect an error related to my code.  
What I’m getting is an error related to my `terraform` installation.

```bash
$ sw_vers
ProductName: macOS
ProductVersion: 14.6.1
BuildVersion: 23G93

$ terraform version
Terraform v1.9.8
on darwin_arm64

$ tfstacks --version
0.5.0

$ tfstacks init
╷
│ Error: Failed to start Terraform plugin
│
│ Unrecognized remote plugin message:
│ Failed to read any lines from plugin's stdout
│ This usually means
│ the plugin was not compiled for this architecture,
│ the plugin is missing dynamic-link libraries necessary to run,
│ the plugin is not executable by this process due to file permissions, or
│ the plugin failed to negotiate the initial go-plugin protocol handshake
│
│ Additional notes about plugin:
│ Path: /opt/homebrew/bin/terraform
│ Mode: -r-xr-xr-x
│ Owner: 501 [jaystockhausen] (current: 501 [jaystockhausen])
│ Group: 80 [admin] (current: 20 [staff])
│ MachO architecture: CpuArm64 (current architecture: arm64)
│
╵

```

Relevant links:

- [Terraform Stack CLI reference | Terraform | HashiCorp Developer](https://developer.hashicorp.com/terraform/language/stacks/reference/tfstacks-cli)

I realize `tfstacks` is still in BETA, but appreciate any suggestions for getting this to work on macOS ARM64.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![wellsiau](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/hashicorp/user_avatar/discuss.hashicorp.com/wellsiau/32/40642_2.png) [@wellsiau](https://discuss.hashicorp.com/u/wellsiau)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2024, 11:48pm UTC](https://discuss.hashicorp.com/t/tfstacks-init-failed-to-start-terraform-plugin/70772/2 "2024-10-19T23:48:58Z")

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You probably facing the same problem like me when I upgraded Terraform via brew.

Stacks is experimental and only available in alpha releases of the terraform binaries, so an alpha binary of tf will be required for tfstacks usage. You can find the latest alpha here: [https://releases.hashicorp.com/terraform/](https://www.google.com/url?q=https://releases.hashicorp.com/terraform/&sa=D&source=editors&ust=1729384575893577&usg=AOvVaw3zORO0eHJAtEM_9pqKUR7a)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jay.stockhausen](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/hashicorp/user_avatar/discuss.hashicorp.com/jay.stockhausen/32/43506_2.png) [@jay.stockhausen](https://discuss.hashicorp.com/u/jay.stockhausen)\
**Post date:** [October 20, 2024, 4:13pm UTC](https://discuss.hashicorp.com/t/tfstacks-init-failed-to-start-terraform-plugin/70772/3 "2024-10-20T16:13:59Z")

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That was it. Thank you!

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/hashicorp/original/1X/79bf76adfd92a75631996933098f9ce29d37abf3.svg) [@system](https://discuss.hashicorp.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [April 18, 2025, 4:14pm UTC](https://discuss.hashicorp.com/t/tfstacks-init-failed-to-start-terraform-plugin/70772/4 "2025-04-18T16:14:50Z")

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