/terraform-generator

name: terraform-generator
description: Create, generate, write, or scaffold Terraform .tf HCL — resources, modules, providers, variables, outputs.

Terraform Generator

Overview

This skill enables the generation of production-ready Terraform configurations following best practices and current standards. Automatically integrates validation and documentation lookup for custom providers and modules.

Critical Requirements Checklist

**STOP: You MUST complete ALL steps in order. Do NOT skip any REQUIRED step.**

| Step | Action | Required | |------|--------|----------| | 1 | Understand requirements (providers, resources, modules) | ✅ REQUIRED | | 2 | Check for custom providers/modules and lookup documentation | ✅ REQUIRED | | 3 | Consult reference files before generation | ✅ REQUIRED | | 4 | Generate Terraform files with ALL best practices | ✅ REQUIRED | | 5 | Include data sources for dynamic values (region, account, AMIs) | ✅ REQUIRED | | 6 | Add lifecycle rules on critical resources (KMS, databases) | ✅ REQUIRED | | 7 | Invoke `Skill(devops-skills:terraform-validator)` | ✅ REQUIRED | | 8 | **FIX all validation/security failures and RE-VALIDATE** | ✅ REQUIRED | | 9 | Provide usage instructions (files, next steps, security) | ✅ REQUIRED |

> **IMPORTANT:** If validation fails (terraform validate OR security scan), you MUST fix the issues and re-run validation until ALL checks pass. Do NOT proceed to Step 9 with failing checks.

Core Workflow

When generating Terraform configurations, follow this workflow:

Step 1: Understand Requirements

Analyze the user's request to determine:

• What infrastructure resources need to be created
• Which Terraform providers are required (AWS, Azure, GCP, custom, etc.)
• Whether any modules are being used (official, community, or custom)
• Version constraints for providers and modules
• Variable inputs and outputs needed
• State backend configuration (local, S3, remote, etc.)

Step 2: Check for Custom Providers/Modules

Before generating configurations, identify if custom or third-party providers/modules are involved:

**Standard providers** (no lookup needed):

• hashicorp/aws
• hashicorp/azurerm
• hashicorp/google
• hashicorp/kubernetes
• Other official HashiCorp providers

**Custom/third-party providers/modules** (require documentation lookup):

• Third-party providers (e.g., datadog/datadog, mongodb/mongodbatlas)
• Custom modules from Terraform Registry
• Private or company-specific modules
• Community modules

**When custom providers/modules are detected:**

1. Use WebSearch to find version-specific documentation:

   Search query format: "[provider/module name] terraform [version] documentation [specific resource]"
   Example: "datadog terraform provider v3.30 monitor resource documentation"
   Example: "terraform-aws-modules vpc version 5.0 documentation"

2. Focus searches on:

• Official documentation (registry.terraform.io, provider websites)
• Required and optional arguments
• Attribute references
• Example usage
• Version compatibility notes

3. If Context7 MCP is available and the provider/module is supported, use it as an alternative:

   mcp__context7__resolve-library-id → mcp__context7__query-docs

Step 2.5: Consult Reference Files (REQUIRED)

Before generating configuration, you MUST consult reference files using this matrix:

| Reference | Requirement | Read When | |-----------|-------------|-----------| | `terraform_best_practices.md` | REQUIRED | Always - contains baseline required patterns | | `provider_examples.md` | REQUIRED | Any AWS, Azure, GCP, or Kubernetes resource generation | | `common_patterns.md` | OPTIONAL by default, REQUIRED for complex requests | Multi-environment, workspace, composition, DR, or conditional patterns |

Open references by path:

devops-skills-plugin/skills/terraform-generator/references/terraform_best_practices.md
devops-skills-plugin/skills/terraform-generator/references/provider_examples.md
devops-skills-plugin/skills/terraform-generator/references/common_patterns.md

Step 3: Generate Terraform Configuration

Generate HCL files following best practices:

**File Organization:**

terraform-project/
├── main.tf           # Primary resource definitions
├── variables.tf      # Input variable declarations
├── outputs.tf        # Output value declarations
├── versions.tf       # Provider version constraints
├── terraform.tfvars  # Variable values (optional, for examples)
└── backend.tf        # Backend configuration (optional)

**Best Practices to Follow:**

1. **Provider Configuration:**

   terraform {
     required_version = ">= 1.10, < 2.0"

     required_providers {
       aws = {
         source  = "hashicorp/aws"
         version = "~> 6.0"  # Major pin; verify exact current version when needed
       }
     }
   }

   provider "aws" {
     region = var.aws_region
   }

2. **Resource Naming:**

• Use descriptive resource names
• Follow snake_case convention
• Include resource type in name when helpful

   resource "aws_instance" "web_server" {
     # ...
   }

3. **Variable Declarations:**

   variable "instance_type" {
     description = "EC2 instance type for web servers"
     type        = string
     default     = "t3.micro"

     validation {
       condition     = contains(["t3.micro", "t3.small", "t3.medium"], var.instance_type)
       error_message = "Instance type must be t3.micro, t3.small, or t3.medium."
     }
   }

4. **Output Values:**

   output "instance_public_ip" {
     description = "Public IP address of the web server"
     value       = aws_instance.web_server.public_ip
   }

5. **Use Data Sources for References:**

   data "aws_ami" "ubuntu" {
     most_recent = true
     owners      = ["099720109477"] # Canonical

     filter {
       name   = "name"
       values = ["ubuntu/images/hvm-ssd/ubuntu-jammy-22.04-amd64-ser