Update Terraform state manually overview

This topic provides overview information about how to manually update state in Terraform.

Hands-on: Try the Manage Resources in Terraform State tutorial.

Introduction

Terraform stores information about real-world object that correspond to resources in the configuration as state data. Doing so allows Terraform to modify an existing object when its resource declaration changes.

Terraform automatically updates state when you run the terraform plan and terraform apply commands, but you may need to manually adjustment state data as a result of changes to the configuration or the real managed infrastructure.

Workflow

Modifying state data outside of normal terraform plan or terraform apply operations can cause Terraform to lose track of managed resources, leading to increased costs, reduced productivity, or compromised security. Make sure to keep backups of your state data if you choose to manually modify state.

You can use the Terraform CLI to perform the following state interations: