Command: import

Hands-on: Try the Import Terraform Configuration tutorial.

The terraform import command imports existing resources into Terraform.

Usage

Usage: terraform import [options] ADDRESS ID

Import will find the existing resource from ID and import it into your Terraform state at the given ADDRESS.

ADDRESS must be a valid resource address. Because any resource address is valid, the import command can import resources into modules as well as directly into the root of your state.

ID is dependent on the resource type being imported. For example, for AWS EC2 instances it is the instance ID (i-abcd1234) but for AWS Route53 zones it is the zone ID (Z12ABC4UGMOZ2N). Please reference the provider documentation for details on the ID format. If you're unsure, feel free to just try an ID. If the ID is invalid, you'll just receive an error message.

The command-line flags are all optional. The following flags are available:

For configurations using the HCP Terraform CLI integration or the remote backend only, terraform import also accepts the option -ignore-remote-version.

For configurations using the local backend only, terraform import also accepts the legacy options -state, -state-out, and -backup.

Provider Configuration

Terraform will attempt to load configuration files that configure the provider being used for import. If no configuration files are present or no configuration for that specific provider is present, Terraform will prompt you for access credentials. You may also specify environmental variables to configure the provider.

The only limitation Terraform has when reading the configuration files is that the import provider configurations must not depend on non-variable inputs. For example, a provider configuration cannot depend on a data source.

As a working example, if you're importing AWS resources and you have a configuration file with the contents below, then Terraform will configure the AWS provider with this file.

variable "access_key" {}
variable "secret_key" {}

provider "aws" {
  access_key = "${var.access_key}"
  secret_key = "${var.secret_key}"
}

Example: Import into Resource

This example will import an AWS instance into the aws_instance resource named foo:

$ terraform import aws_instance.foo i-abcd1234

Example: Import into Module

The example below will import an AWS instance into the aws_instance resource named bar into a module named foo:

$ terraform import module.foo.aws_instance.bar i-abcd1234

Example: Import into Resource configured with count

The example below will import an AWS instance into the first instance of the aws_instance resource named baz configured with count:

$ terraform import 'aws_instance.baz[0]' i-abcd1234

Example: Import into Resource configured with for_each

The example below will import an AWS instance into the "example" instance of the aws_instance resource named baz configured with for_each:

Linux, Mac OS, and UNIX:

$ terraform import 'aws_instance.baz["example"]' i-abcd1234

PowerShell:

$ terraform import 'aws_instance.baz[\"example\"]' i-abcd1234

Windows cmd.exe:

$ terraform import aws_instance.baz[\"example\"] i-abcd1234