---
description: >-
  Resources describe infrastructure objects in OpenTofu configurations. Find
  documentation for resource syntax, behavior, and meta-arguments.
---

# Resources

_Resources_ are the most important element in the OpenTofu language.
Each resource block describes one or more infrastructure objects, such
as virtual networks, compute instances, or higher-level components such
as DNS records.

- [Resource Blocks](../../language/resources/syntax.mdx) documents
  the syntax for declaring resources.

- [Resource Behavior](../../language/resources/behavior.mdx) explains in
  more detail how OpenTofu handles resource declarations when applying a
  configuration.

- The Meta-Arguments section documents special arguments that can be used with
  every resource type, including
  [`depends_on`](../../language/meta-arguments/depends_on.mdx),
  [`count`](../../language/meta-arguments/count.mdx),
  [`for_each`](../../language/meta-arguments/for_each.mdx),
  [`provider`](../../language/meta-arguments/resource-provider.mdx),
  and [`lifecycle`](../../language/meta-arguments/lifecycle.mdx).

- [Provisioners](../../language/resources/provisioners/syntax.mdx)
  documents configuring post-creation actions for a resource using the
  `provisioner` and `connection` blocks. Since provisioners are non-declarative
  and potentially unpredictable, we strongly recommend that you treat them as a
  last resort.
