Terraform

Terraform is an infrastructure as code (IaC) tool that lets you build, change, and version cloud and on-premises infrastructure safely and efficiently. It uses a declarative configuration language (HCL) to define resources across providers.

Overview

Created by Hashicorp

  • Provider ecosystem with 2,000+ supported platforms
  • State management for tracking infrastructure resources
  • Modules for reusable infrastructure components
  • Workspace support for multiple environments
  • Cloud-agnostic: works across all major cloud providers

Licensing

Terraform changed its license in August 2023 from MPL-2.0 to the BUSL 1.1 (Business Source License). It is now source-available but not OSI-approved open source. HashiCorp prohibits cloud providers from offering Terraform as a managed service.

The open-source fork OpenTofu (formerly OpenTF) continues as the community-driven open-source alternative under the MPL-2.0 license.

See Terraform License for details.

Official Resources