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Laura Pacilio
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page_title: Introduction
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description: >-
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Learn what Terraform is, what problems it can solve, and how it compares to
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existing software.
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layout: "intro"
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page_title: "What is Terraform"
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sidebar_current: "what"
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description: |-
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Terraform is an infrastructure as code tool that lets you build, change, and version cloud and on-prem resources safely and efficiently.
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---
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# What is Terraform?
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# Introduction to Terraform
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HashiCorp Terraform is an infrastructure as code tool that lets you define both cloud and on-prem resources in human-readable configuration files that you can version, reuse, and share. You can then use a consistent workflow to provision and manage all of your infrastructure throughout its lifecycle. Terraform can manage low-level components like compute, storage, and networking resources, as well as high-level components like DNS entries and SaaS features.
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Terraform is an infrastructure as code (IaC) tool that allows you to build, change, and version infrastructure safely and efficiently. This includes low-level components such as compute instances, storage, and networking, as well as high-level components such as DNS entries, SaaS features, etc. Terraform can manage both existing service providers and custom in-house solutions.
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> **Hands On:** Try the Get Started tutorials on HashiCorp Learn to start managing infrastructure on popular cloud providers: [Amazon Web Services](https://learn.hashicorp.com/collections/terraform/aws-get-started), [Azure](https://learn.hashicorp.com/collections/terraform/azure-get-started), [Google Cloud Platform](https://learn.hashicorp.com/collections/terraform/gcp-get-started), [Oracle Cloud Infrastructure](https://learn.hashicorp.com/collections/terraform/oci-get-started), and [Docker](https://learn.hashicorp.com/collections/terraform/docker-get-started).
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Below, HashiCorp co-founder and CTO Armon Dadgar describes how Terraform can help solve common infrastructure challenges.
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## How does Terraform work?
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Terraform creates and manages resources on cloud platforms and other services through their application programming interfaces (APIs). Providers enable Terraform to work with virtually any platform or service with an accessible API.
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<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/h970ZBgKINg" frameBorder={0} allowFullScreen width={560} height={315} />
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## Key Features
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HashiCorp and the Terraform community have already written **more than 1700 providers** to manage thousands of different types of resources and services, and this number continues to grow. You can find all publicly available providers on the [Terraform Registry](https://registry.terraform.io/), including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Azure, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Kubernetes, Helm, GitHub, Splunk, DataDog, and many more.
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### Infrastructure as Code
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The core Terraform workflow consists of three stages:
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You describe your infrastructure using Terraform's high-level [configuration language](/language) in human-readable, declarative configuration files. This allows you to create a blueprint that you can version, share, and reuse.
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- **Write:** You define resources, which may be across multiple cloud providers and services. For example, you might create a configuration to deploy an application on virtual machines in a virtual private cloud (VPC) network with security groups and a load balancer.
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- **Plan:** Terraform creates an execution plan describing the infrastructure it will create, update, or destroy based on the existing infrastructure and your configuration.
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- **Apply:** On approval, Terraform performs the proposed operations in the correct order, respecting any resource dependencies. For example, if you update the properties of a VPC and change the number of virtual machines in that VPC, Terraform will recreate the VPC before scaling the virtual machines.
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### Execution Plans
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Terraform generates an _execution plan_ describing what it will do and asks for your approval before making any infrastructure changes. This allows you to review changes before Terraform creates, updates, or destroys infrastructure.
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### Resource Graph
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## Why Terraform?
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Terraform builds a resource graph and creates or modifies non-dependent resources in parallel. This allows Terraform to build resources as efficiently as possible and gives you greater insight into your infrastructure.
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HashiCorp co-founder and CTO Armon Dadgar explains how Terraform solves infrastructure challenges.
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### Change Automation
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<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/h970ZBgKINg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="315" ></iframe>
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Terraform can apply complex changesets to your infrastructure with minimal human interaction. When you update configuration files, Terraform determines what changed and creates incremental execution plans that respect dependencies.
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## Next Steps
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### Manage any infrastructure
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- Learn about common [Terraform use cases](/intro/use-cases).
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- Learn [how Terraform compares to and complements other tools](/intro/vs).
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- Try the [Terraform: Get Started](https://learn.hashicorp.com/collections/terraform/aws-get-started) tutorials on HashiCorp Learn.
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Find providers for many of the platforms and services you already use in the [Terraform Registry](https://registry.terraform.io/). You can also [write your own](/plugin). Terraform takes an [immutable approach to infrastructure](https://www.hashicorp.com/resources/what-is-mutable-vs-immutable-infrastructure), reducing the complexity of upgrading or modifying your services and infrastructure.
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### Track your infrastructure
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Terraform generates a plan and prompts for your approval before modifying your infrastructure. It also keeps track of your real infrastructure in a [state file](/language/state), which acts as a source of truth for your environment. Terraform uses the state file to determine the changes to make to your infrastructure so that it will match your configuration.
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### Automate changes
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Terraform configuration files are declarative, meaning that they describe the end state of your infrastructure. You do not need to write step-by-step instructions to create resources because Terraform handles the underlying logic. Terraform builds a resource graph to determine resource dependencies and creates or modifies non-dependent resources in parallel. This allows Terraform to build resources efficiently.
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### Standardize configurations
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Terraform supports reusable configuration components called [modules](/docs/language/modules) that define configurable collections of infrastructure, saving time and enforcing best practices. You can use publicly available modules from the Terraform Registry, or write your own.
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### Collaborate
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Since your configuration is codified, you can commit it to a version control system (VCS) and use [Terraform Cloud](/intro/terraform-editions#terraform-cloud) to efficiently manage Terraform workflows across teams. Terraform Cloud runs Terraform in a consistent, reliable environment and provides access to shared state and secret data, role-based access controls, a private registry for sharing both modules and providers, and more.
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-> Learn more about [Terraform use cases](/intro/use-cases) and [how Terraform compares to alternatives](/intro/vs).
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## Community
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We welcome questions, suggestions, and contributions from the community.
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- Ask questions in [HashiCorp Discuss](https://discuss.hashicorp.com/c/terraform-core/27).
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- Read our [contributing guide](https://github.com/hashicorp/terraform/blob/main/.github/CONTRIBUTING.md).
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- [Submit an issue](https://github.com/hashicorp/terraform/issues/new/choose) for bugs and feature requests.
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