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Local Development Using mise

This document explains what mise is, how it is used in the HSF repository, and how to get it configured in your local development environment.

What is mise?​

mise (pronounced "meez", short for mise en place) is a polyglot runtime and tool version manager. It manages the versions of tools like Terraform, OpenTofu, and other CLI utilities your project depends on — and ensures everyone on your team is running the exact same versions, regardless of what is installed on their local machine.

Think of it as a single tool that replaces tfenv, tfswitch, asdf, and similar per-tool version managers. Instead of managing versions separately for each tool, mise reads a single .mise.toml configuration file at the root of the repository and installs and activates the correct version of each tool automatically when you enter the directory.

Why HSF uses mise:

  • Ensures consistent tool versions across local development, CI, and contributor environments without manual version pinning.
  • Reduces "works on my machine" issues caused by mismatched Terraform or OpenTofu versions.
  • One install, one config file — no need to manage separate version managers per tool.

Prerequisites​

Before setting up mise, confirm you have the following:

  • A Unix-based environment (macOS or Linux). Windows users should use WSL2 or the DevContainer setup described in Developer Environment Setup.
  • git installed and the repository cloned locally.
  • A terminal with shell support for bash, zsh, or fish.

Get started:​

  1. Install mise and activate it in your shell.
  2. From the root of the repository, run:
   mise install

mise reads the .mise.toml file at the root of the repository and installs all required tool versions automatically.

  1. Verify the correct versions are active:
   mise current
note

If mise does not activate automatically when you enter the repository directory, run mise trust at the root of the repository to allow auto-activation.