And finally authentication credentials shall be defined as secret [environment variable credentials](https://developer.hashicorp.com/terraform/cli/config/config-file#environment-variable-credentials).
In the above example, that would mean defining a :lock: `TF_TOKEN_tf_registry_address` project variable containing the authentication token.
:warning: by default the template automatically sets the authentication token for the GitLab Modules Registry using the `$CI_JOB_TOKEN` value.
If you want to use another credential (personal access token or else), just define explicitly :lock: `TF_TOKEN_gitlab_com` (or the right one for your GitLab server)
as a project variable with the desired credential.
### Terraform lock file
As explained in [Terraform documentation](https://developer.hashicorp.com/terraform/language/files/dependency-lock#lock-file-location), _you should include the `.terraform.lock.hcl` file in your version control repository_.