Terraform CLI Cheat Sheet

terraform version

# Print the installed Terraform CLI version and provider versions in use.

terraform -help

# List Terraform subcommands and global options.

terraform init

# Install required providers and modules and initialize backend configuration.

terraform init -upgrade

# Upgrade providers and modules to newest allowed versions during initialization.

terraform init -backend=false

# Initialize modules and providers without configuring remote/backend state.

terraform init -reconfigure

# Reinitialize backend configuration without migrating existing state automatically.

terraform fmt

# Rewrite Terraform files to canonical style.

terraform fmt -recursive

# Format Terraform files in current directory and subdirectories.

terraform validate

# Check whether configuration is syntactically valid and internally consistent.

terraform validate -json

# Emit machine-readable validation output, useful in CI.

terraform console

# Interactive REPL for testing expressions and inspecting values from state.

terraform test

# Execute Terraform test files in the tests directory or specified test directory.

terraform plan

# Show the actions Terraform would take to reach the desired state.

terraform plan -out=tfplan

# Write the generated plan to a file for later apply.

terraform plan -var='environment=prod'

# Set an input variable directly on the command line.

terraform plan -var-file=prod.tfvars

# Use a tfvars file during planning.

terraform plan -target=aws_instance.web

# Plan changes for a specific resource address.

terraform plan -refresh-only

# Compare state with remote objects and update state without proposing config changes.

terraform plan -destroy

# Plan destruction of all managed infrastructure.

terraform apply

# Create or update infrastructure after approval.

terraform apply -auto-approve

# Skip interactive approval prompt.

terraform apply tfplan

# Apply exactly the actions saved in a plan file.

terraform destroy

# Destroy all resources managed by the current configuration.

terraform destroy -auto-approve

# Destroy infrastructure without approval prompt.

terraform output

# Display all output values from state.

terraform output vpc_id

# Display a single output value.

terraform output -raw vpc_id

# Print a string output without JSON quoting or extra formatting.

terraform output -json

# Emit outputs as JSON for scripting.

terraform show

# Show human-readable representation of current state.

terraform show tfplan

# Inspect a previously saved plan file.

terraform show -json tfplan

# Emit a plan or state file as machine-readable JSON.

terraform state list

# Print all resource addresses currently tracked in state.

terraform state show aws_instance.web

# Display detailed attributes for one resource instance.

terraform providers

# Show provider requirements and dependency tree.

terraform graph | dot -Tpng > graph.png

# Generate a Graphviz dependency graph for visualization.

terraform plan -input=false

# Fail instead of prompting for missing variables.

export TF_VAR_region=us-east-1

# Pass an input variable through environment variables.

export TF_CLI_ARGS_plan='-lock-timeout=60s'

# Inject default arguments for a specific Terraform subcommand.

export TF_LOG=INFO

# Turn on Terraform internal logging for troubleshooting.

export TF_LOG_PATH=./terraform.log

# Persist Terraform debug logs to a file.

export TF_DATA_DIR=.tfdata

# Store provider/plugins and local data in a custom directory.

terraform force-unlock LOCK_ID

# Release a stuck state lock by lock ID.

terraform apply -lock-timeout=120s

# Wait for an existing state lock before failing.

terraform apply -refresh-only

# Preferred modern replacement for older refresh-only workflows.