Skip to content

Terraform Cheat Sheet

Scannable commands and patterns for the Terraform track. Prefer the full tutorials when you need why, not only how.

Quick reference

Area Commands / notes
Loop fmtinitvalidateplan -outapply
Init terraform init -input=false; -upgrade when intentional
Plan terraform plan -input=false -out=tfplan
Apply terraform apply -input=false tfplan
State terraform state list; show ADDR; never commit *.tfstate*
Output terraform output; sensitive outputs redacted in CLI
Fmt/CI terraform fmt -check; TF_IN_AUTOMATION=1
Modules source + version pin; path.module
Meta for_each over count; lifecycle sparingly
Destroy terraform destroy only for labs / approved teardown

Common mistakes

  • Copy-pasting without reading expected output
  • Skipping cleanup (leftover containers, state, or temp files)
  • Mixing production credentials into lab shells