Typical Terraform workflow

The following steps are executed in a typical Terraform workflow:

1. terraform init (to initialize the working directory)
   1. Initializes the backend
      (optional, where state is stored (local, remote, …) and how it is accessed (credentials, …))
   2. Downloads and installs provider plugins
   3. Downloads submodules (optional)
2. terraform plan (included in terraform apply or separated with .plan file)
   1. Locks current state
   2. Downloads current state into memory
   3. Refreshes state in memory
   4. Plans and outputs changes
3. terraform apply
   1. Applies changes, if any
   2. Updates state, if necessary
   3. Unlocks current state
4. terraform output (also included in terraform apply)
   1. Shows output of root module

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