Terraform error: Provider "registry.terraform.io/hashicorp/google" requires explicit configuration. Add a provider block to the root module

Question

Is there anyway to find out what triggers a message like this,

Provider "registry.terraform.io/hashicorp/google" requires explicit configuration. Add a provider block to the root module and configure the provider's required arguments as described in the provider documentation.

This is what the error looks like in context. I have the provider though defined.

Planning failed. Terraform encountered an error while generating this plan.

╷
│ Error: Invalid provider configuration
│ 
│ Provider "registry.terraform.io/hashicorp/google" requires explicit configuration. Add a provider block to the root module and configure the provider's
│ required arguments as described in the provider documentation.
│ 

Answer 1

This error means you're likely using the default configuration which requires a user-wide gcloud login. You simple need to run,

gcloud auth application-default login