Installation

planlens is a command-line tool that runs on Node.js. It's tested on macOS and Linux. Windows should work but hasn't been tested yet.

Requirements

	Version	Needed for
Node.js	22 or newer	Running planlens
Terraform or OpenTofu	Any version with show -json	Reading saved plan files. Not needed if you pass plan JSON.
A browser	Any current browser	Viewing plans

Check your Node.js version:

node --version

If Node.js is missing or older than 22, install a current version:

macOS

brew install node

Linux

# Install nvm first: https://github.com/nvm-sh/nvm#installing-and-updating
nvm install 24

Windows

Download the LTS installer from https://nodejs.org

Install planlens

npm install -g https://github.com/tarun9715m/terraform-planlens/releases/latest/download/terraform-planlens.tgz

This installs the latest release from GitHub. planlens has no runtime dependencies, so it takes a few seconds.

Check that it works:

planlens --version
planlens demo

planlens demo opens a sample plan in your browser. Press Ctrl+C in the terminal to stop it.

A specific version

Every release has a versioned file:

npm install -g https://github.com/tarun9715m/terraform-planlens/releases/download/v0.1.0/terraform-planlens-0.1.0.tgz

From source

git clone https://github.com/tarun9715m/terraform-planlens.git
cd terraform-planlens
npm ci          # installs dependencies
npm run build   # builds dist/cli.js and the viewer
npm link        # puts planlens on your PATH

Upgrade

Run the install command again. It replaces the installed version with the latest release.

Uninstall

npm uninstall -g terraform-planlens

Permission errors on Linux

If npm install -g fails with EACCES, your global npm folder belongs to root. The cleanest fix is to install Node.js with nvm. Alternatively, give npm a folder in your home directory:

npm config set prefix ~/.npm-global
echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.npm-global/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc   # or ~/.zshrc
source ~/.bashrc

Then run the install command again, without sudo.