> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://cortex-docs.paloaltonetworks.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://cortex-docs.paloaltonetworks.com/application-security/terraform-workflows/authentication-and-configuration.md).

# Authentication and configuration

Automate your Application Security / ASPM lifecycle using Infrastructure-as-Code. The Cortex Cloud Terraform provider allows platform teams to programmatically manage integrations, business applications, custom rules, and compliance profiles at scale.

**Source of truth**: For the most up-to-date schema, provider versions, and complete resource documentation, always refer to the official [Cortex Cloud Terraform provider registry](https://registry.terraform.io/providers/PaloAltoNetworks/cortexcloud/latest/docs).

## Prerequisites

Before automating your Application Security workflows, you must initialize and authenticate the `cortexcloud` Terraform provider using your tenant's API credentials.

### Provider version requirement

To manage Application Security-specific resources, you must declare the latest provider version (refer to [Cortex Cloud Terraform provider registry](https://registry.terraform.io/providers/PaloAltoNetworks/cortexcloud/latest/docs)).

### Authentication requirement

To authenticate, you must generate a dedicated API key in the Cortex Cloud console under **Settings** → **Configurations** → **API Keys**. For more information, refer to [Manage API keys](/cortex-cloud-runtime-security/onboard-and-configure/deployment-steps-and-checklist/manage-api-keys.md).

The provider requires the following parameters to authenticate:

* `api_url`: The API URL of your Cortex Cloud tenant, formatted as `https://api-{fqdn}`
* `api_key`: Your Cortex Cloud API key
* `api_key_id`: Your Cortex Cloud API key ID (must be a number)
* `api_key_type`: You must set this attribute to **standard** or **advanced** depending on the key you generated to prevent authentication errors. Note that it defaults to `advanced`. It is highly recommend to use an advanced API key level for added security

## **Configuration methods**

You can pass credentials using one of three methods:

* **Provider block parameters**

  ```hcl
  provider "cortexcloud" {
    api_url      = "https://api-{fqdn}"
    api_key      = "your-api-key"
    api_key_id   = 12345
    api_key_type = "advanced"
  }
  ```
* **Environment variables**

  You can set `CORTEXCLOUD_API_URL`, `CORTEXCLOUD_API_KEY`, `CORTEXCLOUD_API_KEY_ID`, and `CORTEXCLOUD_API_KEY_TYPE`.
* **Configuration file**

  A JSON file referenced by the `config_file` attribute.


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