Terraform Cheatsheet

Category	Command	Purpose
Initialize	terraform init	Initialize working directory, providers, and modules
Initialize	terraform init -upgrade	Upgrade providers and modules to newer versions
Formatting	terraform fmt	Format Terraform files
Formatting	terraform fmt -recursive	Format all Terraform files recursively
Validation	terraform validate	Validate Terraform configuration
Planning	terraform plan	Show infrastructure changes before applying
Planning	terraform plan -out=tfplan	Save execution plan to a file
Planning	terraform plan -detailed-exitcode	Return exit code based on changes detected
Apply	terraform apply	Apply infrastructure changes
Apply	terraform apply -auto-approve	Apply changes without confirmation
Apply	terraform apply tfplan	Apply a saved plan file
Destroy	terraform destroy	Destroy managed resources
Destroy	terraform destroy -auto-approve	Destroy resources without confirmation
Output	terraform output	Display output variables
Output	terraform output <name>	Display a specific output
Output	terraform output -json	Display outputs in JSON format
Show	terraform show	Display current state or plan details
Show	terraform show -json	Display state/plan in JSON format
Console	terraform console	Interactive Terraform expression console
Graph	terraform graph	Generate dependency graph
Version	terraform version	Show Terraform version
Providers	terraform providers	List providers in use
Providers	terraform providers schema -json	View provider schemas

Import & Resource Replacement

Command	Purpose
terraform import <resource> <id>	Import existing infrastructure
terraform plan -replace=<resource>	Plan resource replacement
terraform apply -replace=<resource>	Replace resource during apply

State Lock & Terraform Cloud

Command	Purpose
terraform login	Login to Terraform Cloud
terraform logout	Logout from Terraform Cloud
terraform force-unlock <lock_id>	Remove stale state lock

Refresh & Targeting

Command	Purpose
terraform plan -refresh-only	Refresh state without making changes
terraform apply -refresh-only	Apply refreshed state
terraform plan -target=<resource>	Plan specific resource only
terraform apply -target=<resource>	Apply specific resource only

Terraform workspaces in more detail -

Terraform workspaces are a feature that allows you to manage multiple distinct sets of Terraform state files within a single Terraform configuration.

Workspaces are useful when you need to maintain multiple copies of the same infrastructure for different purposes, such as development, testing, staging, and production, without duplicating your configuration files.

When you work with Terraform workspaces, each workspace has its own state file, which means that you can have different resource instances or configurations for each workspace.

This separation helps prevent accidental changes to the wrong environments and makes it easier to manage complex deployments.

Terraform starts with a single, default workspace named `default` that you cannot delete. If you have not created a new workspace, you are using the default workspace in your Terraform working directory.

Few commands to work on workspaces -

List workspaces:

$ terraform workspace list  
 * default

Create a workspace:

$ terraform workspace new dev
 Created and switched to workspace "dev"!

You're now on a new, empty workspace. Workspaces isolate their state,

so if you run "terraform plan" Terraform will not see any existing state

for this configuration.

$ terraform workspace new staging
 Created and switched to workspace "staging"!

You're now on a new, empty workspace. Workspaces isolate their state,

so if you run "terraform plan" Terraform will not see any existing state

for this configuration.

To check the current workspace, use the `terraform workspace show` command.

$ terraform workspace show
staging

Select a Workspace:
To switch b/w workspaces

$ terraform workspace list
  default
  dev
* staging 

$ terraform workspace select dev
 Switched to workspace "dev".

$ terraform workspace show
 dev

Destroy Resources per workspace:
$ terraform workspace delete dev