Complete Workflow Commands Reference¶

Step-by-Step Workflow¶

Step 1: Initialize¶

# Navigate to your Terraform directory
cd /path/to/terraform/project

# Initialize Terraform
terraform init

# Expected output:
# - Downloads providers
# - Initializes backend
# - Creates .terraform directory

Step 2: Validate¶

# Validate configuration syntax
terraform validate

# Expected output:
# Success! The configuration is valid.

Step 3: Format¶

# Format all .tf files
terraform fmt

# Check formatting without changes
terraform fmt -check

# Format recursively
terraform fmt -recursive

Step 4: Plan¶

# Preview changes
terraform plan

# Save plan to file
terraform plan -out=tfplan

# Target specific resource
terraform plan -target=aws_instance.web

Step 5: Apply¶

# Apply changes (with confirmation)
terraform apply

# Apply saved plan (no confirmation needed)
terraform apply tfplan

# Apply with auto-approve
terraform apply -auto-approve

Step 6: Verify¶

# Show current state
terraform show

# List all resources
terraform state list

# Show specific resource
terraform state show aws_instance.web

Step 7: Output Values¶

# Show all outputs
terraform output

# Show specific output
terraform output vpc_id

# Output in JSON format
terraform output -json

Step 8: Destroy (when needed)¶

# Destroy all resources (with confirmation)
terraform destroy

# Destroy specific resource
terraform destroy -target=aws_instance.web

# Destroy with auto-approve
terraform destroy -auto-approve

Advanced Commands¶

terraform refresh (Deprecated)¶

# OLD WAY (deprecated)
terraform refresh

# NEW WAY (recommended)
terraform apply -refresh-only

terraform import¶

# Import existing resource
terraform import aws_instance.web i-1234567890abcdef0

# Import with module
terraform import module.vpc.aws_vpc.main vpc-12345678

terraform taint (Deprecated)¶

# OLD WAY (deprecated)
terraform taint aws_instance.web

# NEW WAY (recommended)
terraform apply -replace=aws_instance.web

terraform get¶

# Download/update modules
terraform get

# Update modules
terraform get -update

terraform console¶

# Interactive console
terraform console

# Example usage in console:
> var.region
"us-east-1"

> aws_vpc.main.id
"vpc-12345678"

> length(aws_instance.web)
2