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Terraform Iac Expert Agent Skill

Terraform and OpenTofu infrastructure as code — module design, state management, multi-environment setups, remote backends, secrets management, CI/CD integration. NOT for Pulumi, CDK, Ansible, or Kubernetes manifests.

3k tokens
context cost
the whole folder, loaded on every use
1
files
instructions only
0
copies elsewhere
how many repositories repackaged it
177
stars on the repo
on the repository, not the skill itself

Install

one command, takes just this skill from the repository
npx skills add https://github.com/curiositech/some_claude_skills --skill terraform-iac-expert

The instruction itself

22 sections, as written by the author

Terraform IaC Expert

Overview

Expert in Infrastructure as Code using Terraform and OpenTofu. Specializes in module design, state management, multi-cloud deployments, and CI/CD integration. Handles complex infrastructure patterns including multi-environment setups, remote state backends, and secure secrets management.

When to Use

  • Setting up new Terraform projects and workspaces
  • Designing reusable Terraform modules
  • Managing state files and remote backends
  • Implementing multi-environment (dev/staging/prod) infrastructure
  • Migrating existing infrastructure to Terraform
  • Troubleshooting state drift and plan failures
  • Integrating Terraform with CI/CD pipelines
  • Implementing security best practices (secrets, IAM, policies)

Capabilities

Project Structure

  • Module-based architecture design
  • Workspace vs directory structure strategies
  • Variable and output organization
  • Provider configuration and version constraints
  • Backend configuration for remote state

Module Development

  • Reusable module patterns
  • Input validation and type constraints
  • Output design for module composition
  • Local modules vs registry modules
  • Module versioning and publishing

State Management

  • Remote state backends (S3, GCS, Azure Blob, Terraform Cloud)
  • State locking mechanisms
  • State migration and manipulation
  • Import existing resources
  • Handling state drift

Multi-Environment Patterns

  • Workspace-based environments
  • Directory-based environments
  • Terragrunt for DRY infrastructure
  • Environment-specific variables
  • Promotion workflows

Security

  • Sensitive variable handling
  • IAM role design for Terraform
  • Policy as Code (Sentinel, OPA)
  • Secrets management integration (Vault, AWS Secrets Manager)
  • Least privilege principles

CI/CD Integration

  • GitHub Actions for Terraform
  • Atlantis for PR-based workflows
  • Terraform Cloud/Enterprise
  • Plan/Apply automation
  • Cost estimation integration

Dependencies

Works well with:

  • aws-solutions-architect - AWS resource patterns
  • kubernetes-orchestrator - K8s infrastructure
  • github-actions-pipeline-builder - CI/CD automation
  • site-reliability-engineer - Production infrastructure

Examples

Project Structure

terraform/
├── modules/
│   ├── vpc/
│   │   ├── main.tf
│   │   ├── variables.tf
│   │   └── outputs.tf
│   ├── eks/
│   └── rds/
├── environments/
│   ├── dev/
│   │   ├── main.tf
│   │   ├── variables.tf
│   │   ├── terraform.tfvars
│   │   └── backend.tf
│   ├── staging/
│   └── prod/
└── shared/
    └── provider.tf

Root Module with Locals

# environments/prod/main.tf
terraform {
  required_version = ">= 1.5.0"

  required_providers {
    aws = {
      source  = "hashicorp/aws"
      version = "~> 5.0"
    }
  }

  backend "s3" {
    bucket         = "mycompany-terraform-state"
    key            = "prod/terraform.tfstate"
    region         = "us-west-2"
    encrypt        = true
    dynamodb_table = "terraform-locks"
  }
}

locals {
  environment = "prod"
  project     = "myapp"

  common_tags = {
    Environment = local.environment
    Project     = local.project
    ManagedBy   = "terraform"
  }
}

module "vpc" {
  source = "../../modules/vpc"

  environment = local.environment
  cidr_block  = "10.0.0.0/16"
  tags        = local.common_tags
}

module "eks" {
  source = "../../modules/eks"

  environment       = local.environment
  vpc_id            = module.vpc.vpc_id
  private_subnet_ids = module.vpc.private_subnet_ids
  cluster_version   = "1.29"
  tags              = local.common_tags
}

Reusable Module with Validation

# modules/vpc/variables.tf
variable "environment" {
  type        = string
  description = "Environment name (dev, staging, prod)"

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

variable "cidr_block" {
  type        = string
  description = "VPC CIDR block"

  validation {
    condition     = can(cidrhost(var.cidr_block, 0))
    error_message = "Must be a valid CIDR block."
  }
}

variable "availability_zones" {
  type        = list(string)
  description = "List of AZs to use"
  default     = ["us-west-2a", "us-west-2b", "us-west-2c"]
}

variable "enable_nat_gateway" {
  type        = bool
  description = "Enable NAT Gateway for private subnets"
  default     = true
}

variable "tags" {
  type        = map(string)
  description = "Tags to apply to all resources"
  default     = {}
}

Module with Dynamic Blocks

# modules/security-group/main.tf
resource "aws_security_group" "this" {
  name        = var.name
  description = var.description
  vpc_id      = var.vpc_id

  dynamic "ingress" {
    for_each = var.ingress_rules
    content {
      from_port   = ingress.value.from_port
      to_port     = ingress.value.to_port
      protocol    = ingress.value.protocol
      cidr_blocks = ingress.value.cidr_blocks
      description = ingress.value.description
    }
  }

  egress {
    from_port   = 0
    to_port     = 0
    protocol    = "-1"
    cidr_blocks = ["0.0.0.0/0"]
  }

  tags = merge(var.tags, {
    Name = var.name
  })
}

Remote State Data Source

# Reference another environment's state
data "terraform_remote_state" "shared" {
  backend = "s3"

  config = {
    bucket = "mycompany-terraform-state"
    key    = "shared/terraform.tfstate"
    region = "us-west-2"
  }
}

# Use outputs from shared state
resource "aws_instance" "app" {
  ami           = data.terraform_remote_state.shared.outputs.base_ami_id
  instance_type = "t3.medium"
  subnet_id     = data.terraform_remote_state.shared.outputs.private_subnet_id
}

GitHub Actions CI/CD

# .github/workflows/terraform.yml
name: Terraform

on:
  pull_request:
    paths:
      - 'terraform/**'
  push:
    branches: [main]
    paths:
      - 'terraform/**'

env:
  TF_VERSION: 1.6.0
  AWS_REGION: us-west-2

jobs:
  plan:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    permissions:
      contents: read
      pull-requests: write
      id-token: write  # For OIDC

    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Configure AWS credentials
        uses: aws-actions/configure-aws-credentials@v4
        with:
          role-to-assume: arn:aws:iam::123456789:role/terraform-github-actions
          aws-region: ${{ env.AWS_REGION }}

      - uses: hashicorp/setup-terraform@v3
        with:
          terraform_version: ${{ env.TF_VERSION }}

      - name: Terraform Init
        working-directory: terraform/environments/prod
        run: terraform init

      - name: Terraform Plan
        working-directory: terraform/environments/prod
        run: terraform plan -out=tfplan

      - name: Upload Plan
        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
        with:
          name: tfplan
          path: terraform/environments/prod/tfplan

  apply:
    needs: plan
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    if: github.ref == 'refs/heads/main' && github.event_name == 'push'
    environment: production

    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Configure AWS credentials
        uses: aws-actions/configure-aws-credentials@v4
        with:
          role-to-assume: arn:aws:iam::123456789:role/terraform-github-actions
          aws-region: ${{ env.AWS_REGION }}

      - uses: hashicorp/setup-terraform@v3
        with:
          terraform_version: ${{ env.TF_VERSION }}

      - name: Download Plan
        uses: actions/download-artifact@v4
        with:
          name: tfplan
          path: terraform/environments/prod

      - name: Terraform Apply
        working-directory: terraform/environments/prod
        run: terraform apply -auto-approve tfplan

Import Existing Resources

# Import existing AWS resource into state
terraform import aws_s3_bucket.existing my-existing-bucket

# Import using for_each key
terraform import 'aws_iam_user.users["alice"]' alice

# Generate configuration from import (Terraform 1.5+)
terraform plan -generate-config-out=generated.tf

Handling Sensitive Values

# Reference secrets from AWS Secrets Manager
data "aws_secretsmanager_secret_version" "db_password" {
  secret_id = "prod/db/password"
}

resource "aws_db_instance" "main" {
  # ... other config ...
  password = data.aws_secretsmanager_secret_version.db_password.secret_string
}

# Mark outputs as sensitive
output "db_connection_string" {
  value     = "postgres://admin:${aws_db_instance.main.password}@${aws_db_instance.main.endpoint}"
  sensitive = true
}

Best Practices

  • Use remote state - Never store state locally for team projects
  • Enable state locking - Prevent concurrent modifications
  • Version pin providers - Use ~> constraints, not >=
  • Separate environments - Use directories or workspaces, not branches
  • Module everything reusable - But don't over-abstract
  • Validate inputs - Use variable validation blocks
  • Use data sources - Reference existing resources instead of hardcoding
  • Tag all resources - Apply consistent tags for cost tracking
  • Review plans carefully - Especially for destroy operations

Common Pitfalls

  • State file conflicts - Multiple people running terraform simultaneously
  • Hardcoded values - Not using variables for environment differences
  • Circular dependencies - Resources depending on each other
  • Missing dependencies - Not using depends_on when implicit deps aren't enough
  • Large state files - Not breaking up large infrastructure
  • Secrets in state - State contains sensitive values, encrypt at rest
  • Provider version drift - Different team members using different versions
  • Not using -target carefully - Can cause drift, use sparingly

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