Terraform Init: Best Practices for Production

  • 20/4/2019
  • One-minute read

Hardcoding backend configuration (state buckets, prefixes) in backend.tf couples your Terraform code to a single environment and leaks identifiers into version control.

Preferred Approach

Pass backend values at init time:

terraform init \
  -backend-config="bucket=my-project-terraform-state" \
  -backend-config="prefix=terraform/prod"

Benefits

  • Use the same codebase across dev, staging, and prod by supplying environment-specific values from CI/CD pipelines.
  • Avoid storing sensitive resource names in public repositories.
  • Support per-team state isolation by passing different prefixes.

Tips

  • Document required backend parameters in README.md or automation scripts so teammates run init consistently.
  • Combine with Terraform Cloud/Enterprise remote state if you need centralised locking and audit logs.
  • Naming constraints differ per provider—GCS buckets must be globally unique, so plan a naming convention early.
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