terraform-style-guide

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Terraform Style Guide

Generate and maintain Terraform code following HashiCorp's official style conventions and best practices.

Reference: HashiCorp Terraform Style Guide

Code Generation Strategy

When generating Terraform code:

Start with provider configuration and version constraints
Create data sources before dependent resources
Build resources in dependency order
Add outputs for key resource attributes
Use variables for all configurable values

File Organization

File	Purpose
`terraform.tf`	Terraform and provider version requirements
`providers.tf`	Provider configurations
`main.tf`	Primary resources and data sources
`variables.tf`	Input variable declarations (alphabetical)
`outputs.tf`	Output value declarations (alphabetical)
`locals.tf`	Local value declarations

Example Structure

hcl

# terraform.tf
terraform {
  required_version = ">= 1.14"

  required_providers {
    aws = {
      source  = "hashicorp/aws"
      version = "~> 6.0"
    }
  }
}

# variables.tf
variable "environment" {
  description = "Target deployment environment"
  type        = string

  validation {
    condition     = contains(["dev", "staging", "prod"], var.environment)
    error_message = "Environment must be dev, staging, or prod."
  }
}

# locals.tf
locals {
  common_tags = {
    Environment = var.environment
    ManagedBy   = "Terraform"
  }
}

# main.tf
resource "aws_vpc" "main" {
  cidr_block           = var.vpc_cidr
  enable_dns_hostnames = true

  tags = merge(local.common_tags, {
    Name = "${var.project_name}-${var.environment}-vpc"
  })
}

# outputs.tf
output "vpc_id" {
  description = "ID of the created VPC"
  value       = aws_vpc.main.id
}

Code Formatting

Indentation and Alignment

Use two spaces per nesting level (no tabs)
Align equals signs for consecutive arguments

hcl

resource "aws_instance" "web" {
  ami           = "ami-0c55b159cbfafe1f0"
  instance_type = "t2.micro"
  subnet_id     = "subnet-12345678"

  tags = {
    Name        = "web-server"
    Environment = "production"
  }
}

Block Organization

Arguments precede blocks, with meta-arguments first:

hcl

resource "aws_instance" "example" {
  # Meta-arguments
  count = 3

  # Arguments
  ami           = "ami-0c55b159cbfafe1f0"
  instance_type = "t2.micro"

  # Blocks
  root_block_device {
    volume_size = 20
  }

  # Lifecycle last
  lifecycle {
    create_before_destroy = true
  }
}

Naming Conventions

Use lowercase with underscores for all names
Use descriptive nouns excluding the resource type
Be specific and meaningful
Resource names must be singular, not plural
Default to main for resources where a specific descriptive name is redundant or unavailable, provided only one instance exists

hcl

# Bad
resource "aws_instance" "webAPI-aws-instance" {}
resource "aws_instance" "web_apis" {}
variable "name" {}

# Good
resource "aws_instance" "web_api" {}
resource "aws_vpc" "main" {}
variable "application_name" {}

Variables

Every variable must include type and description:

hcl

variable "instance_type" {
  description = "EC2 instance type for the web server"
  type        = string
  default     = "t2.micro"

  validation {
    condition     = contains(["t2.micro", "t2.small", "t2.medium"], var.instance_type)
    error_message = "Instance type must be t2.micro, t2.small, or t2.medium."
  }
}

variable "database_password" {
  description = "Password for the database admin user"
  type        = string
  sensitive   = true
}

Outputs

Every output must include description:

hcl

output "instance_id" {
  description = "ID of the EC2 instance"
  value       = aws_instance.web.id
}

output "database_password" {
  description = "Database administrator password"
  value       = aws_db_instance.main.password
  sensitive   = true
}

Dynamic Resource Creation

Prefer for_each over count

hcl

# Bad - count for multiple resources
resource "aws_instance" "web" {
  count = var.instance_count
  tags  = { Name = "web-${count.index}" }
}

# Good - for_each with named instances
variable "instance_names" {
  type    = set(string)
  default = ["web-1", "web-2", "web-3"]
}

resource "aws_instance" "web" {
  for_each = var.instance_names
  tags     = { Name = each.key }
}

count for Conditional Creation

hcl

resource "aws_cloudwatch_metric_alarm" "cpu" {
  count = var.enable_monitoring ? 1 : 0

  alarm_name = "high-cpu-usage"
  threshold  = 80
}

Security Best Practices

Refer to SECURITY.md. It includes guidance on encrypting resources, preventing sensitive data in state, and secure configurations.

Version Pinning

hcl

terraform {
  required_version = ">= 1.14"

  required_providers {
    aws = {
      source  = "hashicorp/aws"
      version = "~> 6.0"
    }
  }
}

Use the latest major version of each provider and the latest minor version of Terraform, unless otherwise constrained by a dependency lock file or by other modules used by the configuration.

Version constraint operators:

= 1.0.0 - Exact version
>= 1.0.0 - Greater than or equal
~> 1.0 - Allow rightmost component to increment
>= 1.0, < 2.0 - Version range

Provider Configuration

hcl

provider "aws" {
  region = "us-west-2"

  default_tags {
    tags = {
      ManagedBy = "Terraform"
      Project   = var.project_name
    }
  }
}

# Aliased provider for multi-region
provider "aws" {
  alias  = "east"
  region = "us-east-1"
}

Version Control

Never commit:

terraform.tfstate, terraform.tfstate.backup
.terraform/ directory
*.tfplan
.tfvars files with sensitive data

Always commit:

All .tf configuration files
.terraform.lock.hcl (dependency lock file)

Validation Tools

Run before committing:

bash

terraform fmt -recursive
terraform validate

Additional tools:

tflint - Linting and best practices
checkov / tfsec - Security scanning

Code Review Checklist

[ ] Code formatted with terraform fmt
[ ] Configuration validated with terraform validate
[ ] Files organized according to standard structure
[ ] All variables have type and description
[ ] All outputs have descriptions
[ ] Resource names use descriptive nouns with underscores
[ ] Version constraints pinned explicitly
[ ] Sensitive values marked with sensitive = true
[ ] No hardcoded credentials or secrets
[ ] Security best practices applied

Based on: [HashiCorp Terraform Style Guide](https://developer.hashicorp.com/terraform/language/style)