diff --git a/prepare-tf/README.md b/prepare-tf/README.md
index d2fd2806..a89a1680 100644
--- a/prepare-tf/README.md
+++ b/prepare-tf/README.md
@@ -90,17 +90,16 @@ terraform init
 
 3. Configure provider authentication.
 
-See steps above, and add the following extra steps:
+Our Terraform configurations try to pick up provider authentication information from
+local configuration files typically used by the CLI tool of each provider. Our goal
+is to make sure that you don't have to set extra environment variables when applying
+the Terraform configurations, as long as the CLI tool of that provider has the relevant
+authentication information.
 
-- Digital Ocean:
-  ```bash
-  export DIGITALOCEAN_ACCESS_TOKEN=$(grep ^access-token ~/.config/doctl/config.yaml | cut -d: -f2 | tr -d " ")
-  ```
+Here are provider-specific instructions:
 
-- Linode:
-  ```bash
-  export LINODE_TOKEN=$(grep ^token ~/.config/linode-cli | cut -d= -f2 | tr -d " ")
-  ```
+- for Digital Ocean, run `doctl auth init`, which will populate `~/.config/doctl/config.yaml`
+- for Linode, run `linode-cli configure`, which will populate `~/.config/linode-cli`
 
 4. Decide how many clusters and how many nodes per clusters you want.
 
diff --git a/prepare-tf/cleanup.sh b/prepare-tf/cleanup.sh
index 58d73f7e..5bef4432 100755
--- a/prepare-tf/cleanup.sh
+++ b/prepare-tf/cleanup.sh
@@ -1,6 +1,4 @@
 #!/bin/sh
-export LINODE_TOKEN=$(grep ^token ~/.config/linode-cli | cut -d= -f2 | tr -d " ")
-export DIGITALOCEAN_ACCESS_TOKEN=$(grep ^access-token ~/.config/doctl/config.yaml | cut -d: -f2 | tr -d " ")
 for T in  tag-*; do
 (
   cd $T
diff --git a/prepare-tf/run.sh b/prepare-tf/run.sh
index 0f5cda33..61da09ab 100755
--- a/prepare-tf/run.sh
+++ b/prepare-tf/run.sh
@@ -3,14 +3,6 @@ set -e
 
 TIME=$(which time)
 
-if [ -f ~/.config/doctl/config.yaml ]; then
-  export DIGITALOCEAN_ACCESS_TOKEN=$(grep ^access-token ~/.config/doctl/config.yaml | cut -d: -f2 | tr -d " ")
-fi
-
-if [ -f ~/.config/linode-cli ]; then
-  export LINODE_TOKEN=$(grep ^token ~/.config/linode-cli | cut -d= -f2 | tr -d " ")
-fi
-
 [ "$1" ] || {
   echo "Syntax:"
   echo ""
@@ -58,9 +50,6 @@ PROVIDER="$1"
   exit 1  
 }
 
-export LINODE_TOKEN=$(grep ^token ~/.config/linode-cli | cut -d= -f2 | tr -d " ")
-export DIGITALOCEAN_ACCESS_TOKEN=$(grep ^access-token ~/.config/doctl/config.yaml | cut -d: -f2 | tr -d " ")
-
 cp -a source $TAG
 cd $TAG
 cp -r modules/$PROVIDER modules/PROVIDER
diff --git a/prepare-tf/source/modules/digitalocean/providers.tf b/prepare-tf/source/modules/digitalocean/providers.tf
index 85da66b3..c2cb425d 100644
--- a/prepare-tf/source/modules/digitalocean/providers.tf
+++ b/prepare-tf/source/modules/digitalocean/providers.tf
@@ -6,3 +6,7 @@ terraform {
     }
   }
 }
+
+provider "digitalocean" {
+  token = yamldecode(file("~/.config/doctl/config.yaml"))["access-token"]
+}
diff --git a/prepare-tf/source/modules/linode/providers.tf b/prepare-tf/source/modules/linode/providers.tf
index 010bf865..bddcd7ee 100644
--- a/prepare-tf/source/modules/linode/providers.tf
+++ b/prepare-tf/source/modules/linode/providers.tf
@@ -6,3 +6,7 @@ terraform {
     }
   }
 }
+
+provider "digitalocean" {
+  token = yamldecode(file("~/.config/doctl/config.yaml"))["access-token"]
+}