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Version Control with Terraform

Integrating Terraform with version control systems (VCS) like Git is essential for managing changes, collaborating in teams, and maintaining a history of your infrastructure evolution.

Why Use Version Control with Terraform?​

  1. Change Management:

    • Track and review changes to your Terraform configurations.
    • Roll back to previous versions if needed.

  2. Collaboration:

    • Multiple team members can work on the same Terraform configuration, with VCS handling merging and conflict resolution.

  3. History and Auditing:

    • Maintain a complete history of changes, useful for audits and understanding the evolution of your infrastructure.

Best Practices for Terraform with Version Control​

  1. Repository Structure:

    • Keep your Terraform configurations in a dedicated repository or a specific directory within a larger repository.

  2. Commit Granularity:

    • Make small, incremental changes and commit frequently. This approach makes it easier to track changes and resolve conflicts.

  3. Commit Messages:

    • Write clear, descriptive commit messages. They should explain why the change was made, not just what was changed.

  4. Branching Strategy:

    • Adopt a branching strategy like Git Flow or Trunk Based Development, depending on your team's size and workflow.

  5. Pull Requests and Code Reviews:

    • Use pull requests for merging changes. This allows for code review, which can catch mistakes and improve the quality of your code.

  6. Ignoring Files:

    • Use a .gitignore file to avoid committing sensitive information and state files. Typically, you should exclude:
      • *.tfstate and *.tfstate.*
      • .terraform/
      • Any sensitive files containing credentials or secret keys.

  7. Continuous Integration (CI):

    • Integrate with CI tools to automatically test and apply Terraform configurations in a controlled environment.

Example .gitignore for Terraform​

# Local .terraform directories
**/.terraform/*

# .tfstate files
*.tfstate
*.tfstate.*

# Ignore override files as they are usually used to override resources locally.
override.tf
override.tf.json
*_override.tf
*_override.tf.json

# Ignore CLI configuration files
.terraformrc
terraform.rc