🚀 Set Up Terraform in 10 Minutes — The Right Way

Whether you're bootstrapping a new Terraform repo or helping someone get started, these are the essential steps to do it right from the beginning — without overcomplicating things.

🧰 Prerequisites

Make sure you have the following:

• Terraform installed (v1.5+ preferred)

• A working terminal

• A folder for your project (e.g. devops-lab-notes-1)

• Optional: tfenv if you want to manage multiple Terraform versions

📁 Directory Structure (Recommended)

devops-lab-notes-1/
├── main.tf
├── variables.tf
├── outputs.tf
├── provider.tf
├── .terraform.lock.hcl
└── .terraform-version        # If using tfenv

✅ Step-by-Step Setup

1️⃣ Pin Your Terraform Version

If you're using tfenv to manage Terraform versions, create a .terraform-version file and add the required version:

echo "1.6.6" > .terraform-version

OR, make sure you enforce version via required_version in provider.tf:

terraform {
  required_version = "~> 1.6.6"
}

• If you use tfenv, you should create a .terraform-version file — it's how tfenv knows which version to activate.

• If you don’t use tfenv, this file is ignored by Terraform itself. You must rely on the required_version block inside provider.tf to enforce version constraints.

2️⃣ Configure Your Backend

To keep it simple, start with local backend. Add this to provider.tf:

terraform {
  backend "local" {
    path = "terraform.tfstate"
  }
}

3️⃣ Define Your Provider

Still in provider.tf, define your provider:

provider "aws" {
  region = var.region
}

4️⃣ Define Variables

Create a variables.tf file:

variable "region" {
  description = "AWS region to deploy to"
  type        = string
  default     = "us-east-1"
}

5️⃣ Create Your First Resource

In main.tf, create a dummy resource:

resource "null_resource" "example" {
  provisioner "local-exec" {
    command = "echo Hello, Terraform!"
  }
}

6️⃣ Validate Your Setup

Run the following commands in your project folder:

terraform init
terraform validate
terraform plan

You should see Terraform download the provider and show you a plan with no errors.

📤 7. Define Outputs

Create an outputs.tf file to expose values that other modules or users might need.

Example:

output "region" {
  description = "The AWS region in use"
  value       = var.region
}

✅ 8. Apply the Changes

Once you're happy with the plan:

terraform apply

Terraform will show you the plan again and ask:

Do you want to perform these actions?
  Terraform will perform the actions described above.
  Only 'yes' will be accepted to approve.

  Enter a value: 

Type yes to proceed. Terraform will now provision the resource (local-exec) and execute the command to print “hello, Terraform!”.

🔐 8. Understand .terraform.lock.hcl

When you run terraform init, Terraform generates a file called .terraform.lock.hcl.

This file locks the exact provider versions (and their dependency hashes) used in the project.

Example content:

provider "registry.terraform.io/hashicorp/aws" {
  version     = "5.37.0"
  constraints = "~> 5.0"
  hashes = [
    "h1:xxx...",
    ...
  ]
}

Do:

• Commit this file to Git

• Use it to ensure consistent provider versions across teams and environments

Don’t:

• Edit it manually

🔁 Bonus: Lock Your Provider Versions

Add this to provider.tf to pin the AWS provider version:

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

✅ Summary

By now, you should have:

• A consistent project structure

• Version pinning in place

• A working local backend

• Validated Terraform code

👋 Want More?

Want me to extend this into a full GKE cluster lab or CI/CD pipeline example?
Reply to this email or connect with me on LinkedIn.
I'm building these labs live, one note at a time.

See you next week.
— Anuj