terraform

Terraform Skill

Infrastructure as Code.

Ecosystem Graph

graph LR
  terraform["Terraform"]
  terraform -- "alternative to" --> pulumi
  terraform -- "integrates with" --> github-actions

Quick Start

Terraform allows you to declare cloud infrastructure (VPCs, Databases, Servers) in HCL (HashiCorp Configuration Language) and deploy it predictably.

terraform init
terraform plan
terraform apply

Production Patterns

State Management

Never store the terraform.tfstate file locally or commit it to Git. It often contains plaintext secrets (like database passwords). Always configure a remote state backend (like an encrypted AWS S3 bucket with DynamoDB state locking).

Architecture & Scaling

Modules

Do not write massive monolithic main.tf files. Break your infrastructure into logical modules (e.g., network, database, app_cluster) and consume them in a root configuration. This drastically reduces the blast radius of changes.

Error Recovery

If a terraform apply fails halfway through, the state file may become locked or corrupted. Use terraform state list and terraform state rm surgically to remove tainted resources rather than destroying the entire environment.

Security Notes

Use tfsec or checkov in your CI/CD pipeline to statically analyze your Terraform code for security misconfigurations (like open security groups or unencrypted S3 buckets) before they are ever deployed.

Relationships

Alternatives: pulumi

Works Well With: github-actions

References

• Terraform Docs

Why use this skill

Use this when your agent works with terraform — structured patterns beat pasted docs and prevent common hallucinations.

AI pitfalls

• Referencing CLI flags or config keys that do not exist
• Using outdated major versions of tools
• Skipping lockfile or version pinning in examples

Production checklist

• Secrets in environment variables, not source code
• Error handling and logging in place
• Rate limits and timeouts configured