---
title: Cloud-Init
url: https://docs.vultr.com/products/compute/instances/cloud-gpu/features/cloud-init
description: A guide for updating the Cloud-Init user data on your Vultr Cloud GPU instance after deployment.
publish_date: 2024-09-23T20:20:18.147465Z
last_updated: 2026-05-26T18:48:21.130753Z
---

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

Cloud-Init enables the automatic initialization and configuration of instances during the initial boot phase. Cloud-Init user data runs a specific script's contents to automate the instance customization, software installation and configuration of specific packages or services.

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

=== "Vultr Console"

    1. Navigate to **Products** and click **Compute**.
    1. Click your target 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 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 the target instance's ID in your output.

        ```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 Cloud-Init user data on the instance.

        ```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 instances available in your Vultr account and note the target instance's ID.

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

    1. Upload new Cloud-Init user data to the instance using 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 GPU instance.

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

        ```terraform
        resource "vultr_instance" "gpu" {
            # ...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.
        ```