diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 81d12d5..a61c6f3 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
  * Fix to not use 0.12.22 during testing which reports its version incorrectly
  * Introduce tfenv-resolve-version to deduplicate translation of requested version into actual version
  * README.md updates
+ * Fix #176 - New parameter TFENV_AUTO_INSTALL to handle the version specified by `use` or a `.terraform-version` file not being installed
 
 ## 1.0.2 (October 29, 2019)
 
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 7cf4e46..157008f 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -138,6 +138,16 @@ Specify architecture. Architecture other than the default amd64 can be specified
 TFENV_ARCH=arm tfenv install 0.7.9
 ```
 
+##### `TFENV_AUTO_INSTALL`
+
+String (Default: true)
+
+Should tfenv automatically install terraform if the version specified by defaults or a .terraform-version file is not currently installed.
+
+```console
+TFENV_AUTO_INSTALL=false terraform plan
+```
+
 ##### `TFENV_CURL_OUTPUT`
 
 Integer (Default: 2)
diff --git a/libexec/tfenv-exec b/libexec/tfenv-exec
index a1359dc..4195fd2 100755
--- a/libexec/tfenv-exec
+++ b/libexec/tfenv-exec
@@ -83,6 +83,15 @@ TFENV_VERSION="$(tfenv-version-name)" \
   };
 export TFENV_VERSION;
 
+if [ ! -d "${TFENV_ROOT}/versions/${TFENV_VERSION}" ]; then
+  if [ "${TFENV_AUTO_INSTALL:-true}" == "true" ]; then
+    log 'info' "version '${TFENV_VERSION}' is not installed (set by $(tfenv-version-file)). Installing now as TFENV_AUTO_INSTALL==true";
+    tfenv-install;
+  else
+    log 'error' "version '${TFENV_VERSION}' was requested, but not installed and TFENV_AUTO_INSTALL is not 'true'";
+  fi;
+fi;
+
 TF_BIN_PATH="${TFENV_ROOT}/versions/${TFENV_VERSION}/terraform";
 export PATH="${TF_BIN_PATH}:${PATH}";
 log 'debug' "TF_BIN_PATH added to PATH: ${TF_BIN_PATH}";
diff --git a/libexec/tfenv-version-name b/libexec/tfenv-version-name
index dbd71fd..d9bbe5d 100755
--- a/libexec/tfenv-version-name
+++ b/libexec/tfenv-version-name
@@ -100,8 +100,9 @@ fi;
 [ -z "${TFENV_VERSION}" ] \
   && log 'error' "Version could not be resolved (set by ${TFENV_VERSION_FILE} or tfenv use <version>)";
 
-if [ -d "${TFENV_ROOT}/versions/${TFENV_VERSION}" ]; then
-  echo "${TFENV_VERSION}";
-else
-  log 'warn' "version '${TFENV_VERSION}' is not installed (set by ${TFENV_VERSION_FILE})";
+if [ ! -d "${TFENV_ROOT}/versions/${TFENV_VERSION}" ]; then
+  log 'debug' "version '${TFENV_VERSION}' is not installed (set by ${TFENV_VERSION_FILE})";
 fi;
+
+echo "${TFENV_VERSION}";
+