Terraform flashcards, generated for you.

Terraform is an Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tool by HashiCorp that enables you to define, provision, and manage cloud infrastructure declaratively across multiple providers using HCL configuration files, eliminating manual console clicks and ensuring reproducible infrastructure.

1) .tf files: contain resource, variable, and output declarations; 2) terraform.tfvars: stores variable values; 3) .tfstate: tracks infrastructure state (DO NOT edit manually)

'terraform plan' shows a preview of changes that will be made without modifying infrastructure; 'terraform apply' executes the plan and provisions/modifies actual resources

'terraform init' initializes a Terraform working directory by downloading provider plugins, setting up the backend, and preparing the environment for use. Must run this before any other terraform commands.

State is a JSON file (terraform.tfstate) that tracks the current configuration of managed resources. It's critical because Terraform uses it to map your configuration to real infrastructure and determine what changes are needed. Losing it risks duplicating resources.

'terraform import' brings existing infrastructure (created outside Terraform) under Terraform management by creating a resource binding in state. Use it when adopting Terraform for legacy infrastructure without rebuilding resources.

Local state stores terraform.tfstate on your machine (default, unsafe for teams); remote state stores state in centralized backends (S3, Terraform Cloud, Azure Storage) enabling team collaboration, locking, and security.

'terraform destroy' tears down all infrastructure defined in your configuration by removing resources from the cloud provider. Always run 'terraform plan -destroy' first to review what will be deleted and use approval workflows in production.

A module is a reusable package of Terraform configurations (with inputs/outputs) organized in a directory. Create modules to standardize deployments, reduce code duplication, and encapsulate infrastructure patterns (e.g., a VPC module, RDS module).

Workflow: init → plan → apply → destroy. In production: store tfvars securely (secrets manager, not git); use remote state with locking/encryption; enable state versioning; apply changes through CI/CD pipelines (Terraform Cloud, GitHub Actions) to ensure approval gates and auditability.