Terraform Get Started

Install Terraform

• macOS: brew tap hashicorp/tap && brew install hashicorp/tap/terraform
• Windows: winget install HashiCorp.Terraform or choco install terraform
• Linux: use HashiCorp's apt/yum repository, or download the binary from developer.hashicorp.com/terraform/install.

Check it works:

terraform version

The core workflow

mkdir hello-terraform && cd hello-terraform
# create main.tf (see below)
terraform init      # download providers, prepare the directory
terraform plan      # preview the changes
terraform apply     # make the changes (asks for confirmation)
terraform destroy   # delete everything this configuration created

terraform {
  required_providers {
    local = {
      source  = "hashicorp/local"
      version = "~> 2.5"
    }
  }
}

resource "local_file" "hello" {
  filename = "${path.module}/hello.txt"
  content  = "Hello, Terraform!"
}

Terraform will perform the following actions:

  # local_file.hello will be created
  + resource "local_file" "hello" {
      + content              = "Hello, Terraform!"
      + content_base64sha256 = (known after apply)
      + content_base64sha512 = (known after apply)
      + content_md5          = (known after apply)
      + content_sha1         = (known after apply)
      + content_sha256       = (known after apply)
      + content_sha512       = (known after apply)
      + directory_permission = "0777"
      + file_permission      = "0777"
      + filename             = "./hello.txt"
      + id                   = (known after apply)
    }

Plan: 1 to add, 0 to change, 0 to destroy.

Files you will see

A minimal .gitignore:

.terraform/
*.tfstate
*.tfstate.*

Useful everyday commands

• terraform fmt formats your files in the standard style.
• terraform validate checks the configuration for errors.
• terraform output prints outputs from the state.
• terraform console lets you try expressions interactively.