Is it mandatory to include a provider configuration block in every Terraform configuration?

In Terraform, it is not mandatory to include a provider configuration block in every configuration. A provider configuration block specifies the provider that Terraform should use to manage resources, such as AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud. However, Terraform can implicitly configure a provider for certain default resources, particularly if you are using Terraform Cloud or Terraform Enterprise, which may have a default provider configured.

Moreover, configurations can interact with modules that have their own provider blocks defined. If you instantiate a module that already includes the necessary provider configuration, you do not need to redefine it in your root module.

This flexibility allows for various setup strategies, including scenarios where a user might not need to declare a provider within their own root configuration at all. Users can leverage provider configurations already set elsewhere in their Terraform files, as long as the necessary provider is correctly referenced in the modules being used or environments configured appropriately.

In contrast, choices indicating that provider configuration is mandatory in all cases would not acknowledge the situations mentioned above, emphasizing scenarios where Terraform can operate without a locally defined provider block.