v1.13.2/website/docs/cli/commands/state/pull.mdx

---
description: >-
  The `tofu state pull` command is used to manually download and output the
  state from remote state.
---

# Command: state pull

The `tofu state pull` command is used to manually download and output
the state from [remote state](../../../language/state/remote.mdx). This command also
works with local state.

## Usage

Usage: `tofu state pull`

This command downloads the state from its current location, upgrades the
local copy to the latest state file version that is compatible with
locally-installed OpenTofu, and outputs the raw format to stdout.

This is useful for reading values out of state (potentially pairing this
command with something like [jq](https://stedolan.github.io/jq/)). It is
also useful if you need to make manual modifications to state.

You cannot use this command to inspect the OpenTofu version of
the remote state, as it will always be converted to the current OpenTofu
version before output.

:::note
OpenTofu state files must be in UTF-8 format without a byte order mark (BOM). For PowerShell on Windows, use `Set-Content` to automatically encode files in UTF-8 format. For example, run `tofu state pull | sc terraform.tfstate`.
:::

:::note
Use of variables in [module sources](../../../language/modules/sources.mdx#support-for-variable-and-local-evaluation),
[backend configuration](../../../language/settings/backends/configuration.mdx#variables-and-locals),
or [encryption block](../../../language/state/encryption.mdx#configuration)
requires [assigning values to root module variables](../../../language/values/variables.mdx#assigning-values-to-root-module-variables)
when running `tofu state pull`.
:::

The command support the following command-line arguments:

* `-var 'NAME=VALUE'` - Sets a value for a single
  [input variable](../../../language/values/variables.mdx) declared in the
  root module of the configuration. Use this option multiple times to set
  more than one variable. Refer to
  [Input Variables on the Command Line](../plan.mdx#input-variables-on-the-command-line) for more information.

* `-var-file=FILENAME` - Sets values for potentially many
  [input variables](../../../language/values/variables.mdx) declared in the
  root module of the configuration, using definitions from a
  ["tfvars" file](../../../language/values/variables.mdx#variable-definitions-tfvars-files).
  Use this option multiple times to include values from more than one file.

There are several other ways to set values for input variables in the root
module, aside from the `-var` and `-var-file` options. Refer to
[Assigning Values to Root Module Variables](../../../language/values/variables.mdx#assigning-values-to-root-module-variables) for more information.