terraform.tfvars¶

• terraform.tfvars serves as a way to store variable values for your infrastructure configuration.

• it contains variable names and their corresponding values, separated by an equals sign (=).

why we need terraform.tfvars¶

• Purpose: separate variable definitions from Terraform code. This promotes code reusability and makes it easier to manage different environments with different variable values.

• Benefits:

  • Flexibility: You can easily change variable values by modifying the terraform.tfvars file, without altering your Terraform code.
  • Security: Sensitive information like API keys or passwords can be kept out of your main Terraform code, potentially enhancing security.
  • Environment-specific configurations: You can create multiple terraform.tfvars files for different environments (e.g., development, staging, production), each with its own set of variable values.

• Usage: Terraform automatically loads variables defined in terraform.tfvars when you run commands like terraform apply. You can also specify additional tfvars files using the -var-file flag.

Note that the terraform.tfvars file is not mandatory. We can pass variable values in various ways, such as through command-line flags, environment variables, or interactive prompts.