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We have these funny extra options that date back to before Terraform even had remote state, which we've preserved along the way by most recently incorporating them as special-case overrides for the local backend. The documentation we had for these has grown less accurate over time as the details have shifted, and was in many cases missing the requisite caveats that they are only for the local backend and that backend configuration is the modern, preferred way to deal with the use-cases they were intended for. We always have a bit of a tension with this sort of legacy option because we want to keep them documented just enough to be useful to someone who finds an existing script/etc using them and wants to know what they do, but not to take up so much space that they might distract users from finding the modern alternative they should consider instead. As a compromise in that vein here I've created a new section about these options under the local backend documentation, which then gives us the space to go into some detail about the various behaviors and interactions and also to discuss their history and our recommended alternatives. I then simplified all of the other mentions of these in command documentation to just link to or refer to the local backend documentation. My hope then is that folks who need to know what these do can still find the docs, but that information can be kept out of the direct path of new users so they can focus on learning about remote backends instead. This is certainly not the most ideal thing ever, but it seemed like the best compromise between the competing priorities I described above.
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layout, page_title, sidebar_current, description
| layout | page_title | sidebar_current | description |
|---|---|---|---|
| docs | Command: import | docs-commands-import | The `terraform import` command is used to import existing resources into Terraform. |
Command: import
Hands-on: Try the Import Terraform Configuration tutorial on HashiCorp Learn.
The terraform import command is used to
import existing resources
into Terraform.
Usage
Usage: terraform import [options] ADDRESS ID
Import will find the existing resource from ID and import it into your Terraform state at the given ADDRESS.
ADDRESS must be a valid resource address. Because any resource address is valid, the import command can import resources into modules as well as directly into the root of your state.
ID is dependent on the resource type being imported. For example, for AWS
instances it is the instance ID (i-abcd1234) but for AWS Route53 zones
it is the zone ID (Z12ABC4UGMOZ2N). Please reference the provider documentation for details
on the ID format. If you're unsure, feel free to just try an ID. If the ID
is invalid, you'll just receive an error message.
~> Warning: Terraform expects that each remote object it is managing will be bound to only one resource address, which is normally guaranteed by Terraform itself having created all objects. If you import existing objects into Terraform, be careful to import each remote object to only one Terraform resource address. If you import the same object multiple times, Terraform may exhibit unwanted behavior. For more information on this assumption, see the State section.
The command-line flags are all optional. The list of available flags are:
-
-config=path- Path to directory of Terraform configuration files that configure the provider for import. This defaults to your working directory. If this directory contains no Terraform configuration files, the provider must be configured via manual input or environmental variables. -
-input=true- Whether to ask for input for provider configuration. -
-lock=true- Lock the state file when locking is supported. -
-lock-timeout=0s- Duration to retry a state lock. -
-no-color- If specified, output won't contain any color. -
-parallelism=n- Limit the number of concurrent operation as Terraform walks the graph. Defaults to 10. -
-provider=provider- Deprecated Override the provider configuration to use when importing the object. By default, Terraform uses the provider specified in the configuration for the target resource, and that is the best behavior in most cases. -
-var 'foo=bar'- Set a variable in the Terraform configuration. This flag can be set multiple times. Variable values are interpreted as literal expressions in the Terraform language, so list and map values can be specified via this flag. This is only useful with the-configflag. -
-var-file=foo- Set variables in the Terraform configuration from a variable file. If aterraform.tfvarsor any.auto.tfvarsfiles are present in the current directory, they will be automatically loaded.terraform.tfvarsis loaded first and the.auto.tfvarsfiles after in alphabetical order. Any files specified by-var-fileoverride any values set automatically from files in the working directory. This flag can be used multiple times. This is only useful with the-configflag. -
-ignore-remote-version- When using the enhanced remote backend with Terraform Cloud, continue even if remote and local Terraform versions differ. This may result in an unusable Terraform Cloud workspace, and should be used with extreme caution.
For configurations using
the local backend only,
terraform import also accepts the legacy options
-state, -state-out, and -backup.
Provider Configuration
Terraform will attempt to load configuration files that configure the provider being used for import. If no configuration files are present or no configuration for that specific provider is present, Terraform will prompt you for access credentials. You may also specify environmental variables to configure the provider.
The only limitation Terraform has when reading the configuration files is that the import provider configurations must not depend on non-variable inputs. For example, a provider configuration cannot depend on a data source.
As a working example, if you're importing AWS resources and you have a configuration file with the contents below, then Terraform will configure the AWS provider with this file.
variable "access_key" {}
variable "secret_key" {}
provider "aws" {
access_key = "${var.access_key}"
secret_key = "${var.secret_key}"
}
Example: Import into Resource
This example will import an AWS instance into the aws_instance resource named foo:
$ terraform import aws_instance.foo i-abcd1234
Example: Import into Module
The example below will import an AWS instance into the aws_instance resource named bar into a module named foo:
$ terraform import module.foo.aws_instance.bar i-abcd1234
Example: Import into Resource configured with count
The example below will import an AWS instance into the first instance of the aws_instance resource named baz configured with
count:
$ terraform import 'aws_instance.baz[0]' i-abcd1234
Example: Import into Resource configured with for_each
The example below will import an AWS instance into the "example" instance of the aws_instance resource named baz configured with
for_each:
Linux, Mac OS, and UNIX:
$ terraform import 'aws_instance.baz["example"]' i-abcd1234
PowerShell:
$ terraform import 'aws_instance.baz[\"example\"]' i-abcd1234
Windows cmd.exe:
$ terraform import aws_instance.baz[\"example\"] i-abcd1234