diff --git a/.gitlab/README.md.template b/.gitlab/README.md.template
index fa5d0ff996d9c0e3798f1eb9fed0402e41825f6e..6bec4e76cda72a59c67e8fc7f7d7b3e0d4c376e3 100644
--- a/.gitlab/README.md.template
+++ b/.gitlab/README.md.template
@@ -328,7 +328,7 @@ we may make it the default behavior if possible.
 #### Lockfile Handling
 
 If you commit the Lockfile (`.terraform.lock.hcl`) to your repository
-we recommend setting either the `TF_INIT_FLAGS` (handled by this component)
+we recommend setting either the `GITLAB_TOFU_INIT_FLAGS` (handled by this component)
 or `TF_CLI_ARGS_init` (handled by OpenTofu directly) to `-lockfile=readonly`
 to prevent any changes to the lockfile during the pipeline job and with
 that ensuring that OpenTofu really uses the locked dependencies.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index fd240c6ec324d1f1e5723be681314f63933f02ca..5e38a53022f32cb8cdf6d28336d1d38ba3e6fd35 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -343,7 +343,7 @@ we may make it the default behavior if possible.
 #### Lockfile Handling
 
 If you commit the Lockfile (`.terraform.lock.hcl`) to your repository
-we recommend setting either the `TF_INIT_FLAGS` (handled by this component)
+we recommend setting either the `GITLAB_TOFU_INIT_FLAGS` (handled by this component)
 or `TF_CLI_ARGS_init` (handled by OpenTofu directly) to `-lockfile=readonly`
 to prevent any changes to the lockfile during the pipeline job and with
 that ensuring that OpenTofu really uses the locked dependencies.
diff --git a/src/gitlab-tofu.sh b/src/gitlab-tofu.sh
index e05526e23c234884d161e64f8e0e2a862cf3ecdb..947bac39d58229b4c3025cdd3405db7b0e1d2637 100644
--- a/src/gitlab-tofu.sh
+++ b/src/gitlab-tofu.sh
@@ -258,9 +258,9 @@ terraform_init() {
     tf_init_reconfigure_flag='-reconfigure'
   fi
 
-  # We want to allow word splitting here for TF_INIT_FLAGS
+  # We want to allow word splitting here for GITLAB_TOFU_INIT_FLAGS
   # shellcheck disable=SC2086
-  tofu "${tf_chdir_opt}" init "${@}" -input=false ${tf_init_reconfigure_flag} ${TF_INIT_FLAGS} \
+  tofu "${tf_chdir_opt}" init "${@}" -input=false ${tf_init_reconfigure_flag} ${GITLAB_TOFU_INIT_FLAGS} \
     1>&2 || $GITLAB_TOFU_IGNORE_INIT_ERRORS
 }
 
diff --git a/tests/unit/gitlab-tofu.bats b/tests/unit/gitlab-tofu.bats
index f254e5cfeecf595157ac4417a54c7ef6824f96a9..44890a0e584cba526150e353a705cf72f5e374bc 100644
--- a/tests/unit/gitlab-tofu.bats
+++ b/tests/unit/gitlab-tofu.bats
@@ -35,12 +35,12 @@ teardown() {
 }
 
 @test "gitlab-tofu init with environment variable flags" {
-  export TF_INIT_FLAGS="-get=true -no-color"
+  export GITLAB_TOFU_INIT_FLAGS="-get=true -no-color"
   gitlab-tofu init
 }
 
 @test "gitlab-tofu init with args and environment variable flags" {
-  export TF_INIT_FLAGS="-get=true"
+  export GITLAB_TOFU_INIT_FLAGS="-get=true"
   gitlab-tofu init -no-color
 }