---
title: Cloud-Init
url: https://docs.vultr.com/products/compute/instances/cloud-compute/features/cloud-init
description: A guide for modifying the initialization scripts and configuration data on your Vultr instance after deployment.
publish_date: 2024-09-23T20:20:02.719205Z
last_updated: 2026-05-26T18:42:59.601992Z
---

# How to Update Cloud-Init User Data on a Vultr Cloud Compute Instance

Cloud-Init enables the automatic initialization and configuration of instances during the initial boot phase. It runs user data scripts to customize an instance, install applications, and configure specific packages or services.

Follow this guide to update Cloud-Init user data on a Vultr Cloud Compute instance using the Vultr Console, API, CLI, or Terraform.

=== "Vultr Console"

    1. Navigate to **Products** and click **Compute**.
    1. Click your target Vultr Cloud Compute instance to open its management page.
    1. Navigate to the **User-Data** tab.
    1. Enter your script or cloud config in the **Cloud-Init User-Data** field.
    1. Click **Update** to apply the changes.

=== "Vultr API"

    1. Send a `GET` request to the [**List Instances** endpoint](https://www.vultr.com/api/#tag/instances/operation/list-instances) and note your target instance's ID.

        ```console
        $ curl "https://api.vultr.com/v2/instances" \
          -X GET \
          -H "Authorization: Bearer ${VULTR_API_KEY}"
        ```

    1. Send a `PATCH` request to the [**Update Instance** endpoint](https://www.vultr.com/api/#tag/instances/operation/update-instance) to update the instance's Cloud-Init user data.

        ```console
        $ curl "https://api.vultr.com/v2/instances/{instance-id}" \
          -X PATCH \
          -H "Authorization: Bearer ${VULTR_API_KEY}" \
          -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
          --data '{
            "user_data" : "<cloud-init-data>",
          }'
        ```

=== "Vultr CLI"

    1. List all available instances and note your target instance's ID.

        ```console
        $ vultr-cli instance list
        ```

    1. Upload new Cloud-Init user data to the instance from a file on your workstation.

        ```console
        $ vultr-cli instance user-data set <instance-id> --userdata "<script-path>"
        ```

=== "Terraform"

    Cloud-Init user data can only be set during instance creation in Terraform and cannot be updated on an existing instance without recreating it.

    1. Open your Terraform configuration for the new Cloud Compute instance.

    1. Add the `user_data` argument to the instance resource to run a script at first boot.

        ```terraform
        resource "vultr_instance" "cc" {
            # ...existing fields (region, plan, os_id, label, etc.)

            user_data = <<-EOT
            #!/bin/bash
            apt-get update -y
            apt-get install -y nginx
            systemctl enable --now nginx
            EOT
        }
        ```

    1. Apply the configuration and observe the following output:

        ```
        Apply complete! Resources: 1 added, 0 changed, 0 destroyed.
        ```