Terraform Workspaces and State Cheat Sheet

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Manage Terraform CLI workspaces, local and remote state, imports, and state surgery commands.

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Workspaces

Create, list, switch, and delete CLI workspaces.

List workspaces

Show available Terraform CLI workspaces for the current configuration.

↗#

bashANYterraformworkspacelist

bash

terraform workspace list

Show available Terraform CLI workspaces for the current configuration.

Show current workspace

Print the current Terraform CLI workspace name.

↗#

bashANYterraformworkspaceshow

bash

terraform workspace show

Print the current Terraform CLI workspace name.

Create workspace

Create and switch to a new workspace.

↗#

bashANYterraformworkspacenew

bash

terraform workspace new dev

Create and switch to a new workspace.

Select workspace

Switch to an existing workspace.

↗#

bashANYterraformworkspaceselect

bash

terraform workspace select prod

Switch to an existing workspace.

Delete workspace

Delete a Terraform CLI workspace.

↗#

bashANYterraformworkspacedelete

bash

terraform workspace delete dev

Delete a Terraform CLI workspace.

Import, Move, Remove

Bring existing infra under management and modify state safely.

Import existing object

Associate an existing infrastructure object with a resource address in state.

↗#

bashANYterraformimportstate

bash

terraform import aws_s3_bucket.logs my-logs-bucket

Associate an existing infrastructure object with a resource address in state.

Import with config generation

Generate configuration while importing supported resources.

↗#

bashANYterraformimportconfig-generation

bash

terraform import -generate-config-out=generated.tf aws_s3_bucket.logs my-logs-bucket

Generate configuration while importing supported resources.

Move state address

Rename or move a resource address in state.

↗#

bashANYterraformstatemv

bash

terraform state mv aws_instance.old aws_instance.new

Rename or move a resource address in state.

Remove resource from state

Stop tracking a resource without destroying the remote object.

↗#

bashANYterraformstaterm

bash

terraform state rm aws_instance.web

Stop tracking a resource without destroying the remote object.

Replace provider source in state

Update provider source addresses recorded in state.

↗#

bashANYterraformstatereplace-provider

bash

terraform state replace-provider hashicorp/aws registry.acme.corp/acme/aws

Update provider source addresses recorded in state.

State File Operations

Read and write raw state when needed.

Pull raw state JSON

Download the latest state and write it to a local file.

↗#

bashANYterraformstatepulljson

bash

terraform state pull > terraform.tfstate

Download the latest state and write it to a local file.

Push raw state JSON

Upload a local state file into the configured backend.

↗#

bashANYterraformstatepush

bash

terraform state push terraform.tfstate

Upload a local state file into the configured backend.

List module resources

List resources beneath a specific module path.

↗#

bashANYterraformstatelistmodule

bash

terraform state list module.network

List resources beneath a specific module path.

Providers and Backend Migration

Reconfigure backend and migrate state between backends.

Migrate state during init

Move state to a newly configured backend during re-init.

↗#

bashANYterraforminitmigrate-statebackend

bash

terraform init -migrate-state

Move state to a newly configured backend during re-init.

Force-copy backend state

Automatically copy existing state to a new backend without prompting.

↗#

bashANYterraforminitforce-copybackend

bash

terraform init -force-copy

Automatically copy existing state to a new backend without prompting.

Readonly provider lock file

Use providers from the dependency lock file without updating it.

↗#

bashANYterraforminitlockfile

bash

terraform init -lockfile=readonly

Use providers from the dependency lock file without updating it.

Remote State Patterns

Useful snippets for remote and local state workflows.

Plan with alternate state path

Use a non-default local state path for commands that support it.

↗#

bashANYterraformplanstatelocal-state

bash

terraform plan -state=terraform.tfstate

Use a non-default local state path for commands that support it.

Ignore files for remote runs

Exclude paths from uploaded configuration when using remote CLI-driven runs.

↗#

gitignoreANYterraformterraformignoreremote

gitignore

.terraformignore
.git/
.terraform/
node_modules/
*.pem

Exclude paths from uploaded configuration when using remote CLI-driven runs.

Remote backend snippet

Example backend configuration for HCP Terraform remote state and runs.

↗#

hclANYterraformbackendremotehcp

hcl

terraform {
  backend "remote" {
    organization = "acme"
    workspaces {
      name = "networking-prod"
    }
  }
}

Example backend configuration for HCP Terraform remote state and runs.

More in Terraform

Terraform Troubleshooting and Migration Cheat Sheet

Commands and patterns for debugging, upgrades, migration, and state repair in Terraform.

Terraform HCP Remote and CI Cheat Sheet

Commands and snippets for HCP Terraform remote runs, CLI auth, automation, and CI-friendly usage.

Terraform Language Patterns Cheat Sheet

High-value HCL patterns for variables, locals, outputs, loops, conditionals, dynamic blocks, and data shaping.

Terraform Modules and Providers Cheat Sheet

Commands and snippets for modules, providers, version constraints, registry access, and dependency management.

Terraform CLI Cheat Sheet

Core Terraform CLI commands for init, plan, apply, state, output, variables, workspaces, and automation.

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