What is it?

Brings existing AWS resources into Terraform management — without recreating them.

The Problem it Solves

Resource already exists in AWS (created manually)
         ↓
You write HCL and run terraform apply
         ↓
ERROR: resource already exists!

Import fixes this by linking the existing resource to your HCL code.

When to Use

• Created a resource in AWS Console, now want Terraform to manage it
• Teammate created a resource manually, you are taking over with Terraform
• Migrating existing infrastructure to IaC

Import Workflow

1. Resource exists in AWS (created manually)
2. Write empty resource block in HCL
3. terraform import <resource_address> <aws_id>
4. terraform state show <resource> — see what was imported
5. Copy config from state into your HCL code
6. terraform plan — verify no changes
7. Done — Terraform now manages this resource

Real Example — S3 Bucket

You created daksh-ex-demo bucket in AWS Console months ago. Now you want Terraform to manage it.

Step 1 — Write empty resource block

resource "aws_s3_bucket" "main" {
  # empty for now
}

Step 2 — Import