Terraform Patterns

Category: Engineering Domain: Infrastructure as Code

Overview

The Terraform Patterns skill provides automated analysis of Terraform configurations for module complexity, security misconfigurations, and infrastructure best practices. It catches open ports, public buckets, missing encryption, and overly permissive IAM policies before they reach production.

Clarify First

Before analyzing or scanning, confirm these inputs. If any is unknown or vague, ASK — do not assume:

• Target path — the module or environment directory to analyze (--path; the subject)
• Task — module complexity/quality analysis vs security misconfiguration scan (selects tf_module_analyzer vs tf_security_scanner)
• Minimum severity / gate — the severity bar for findings and whether it blocks a PR (--min-severity; changes the report and CI pass/fail)

Stop rule: ask only the 2-3 that most change the output. If the user says "just draft it," proceed and list your assumptions at the top of the artifact.

Quick Start

# Analyze Terraform module structure and complexity
python scripts/tf_module_analyzer.py --path ./modules/vpc

# Scan for security misconfigurations
python scripts/tf_security_scanner.py --path ./environments/production

# JSON output for CI pipelines
python scripts/tf_security_scanner.py --path . --format json

# Recursive analysis of all modules
python scripts/tf_module_analyzer.py --path . --recursive

Tools Overview

tf_module_analyzer.py

Analyzes Terraform modules for complexity, structure, dependencies, and documentation quality.

Feature	Description
Complexity scoring	Scores modules by resource count, variable count, nesting
Dependency mapping	Maps module dependencies and data source usage
Variable analysis	Checks for missing types, defaults, descriptions
Output completeness	Validates output documentation and coverage
Naming conventions	Checks resource and variable naming patterns

tf_security_scanner.py

Scans Terraform configurations for security misconfigurations and compliance violations.

Feature	Description
Open ports	Detects 0.0.0.0/0 CIDR in security groups
Public access	Flags public S3 buckets, databases, instances
Encryption gaps	Checks for missing encryption at rest and in transit
IAM overreach	Identifies wildcard actions and overly broad policies
Logging gaps	Verifies CloudTrail, flow logs, access logging

Workflows

Security Review Workflow

1. Scan - Run tf_security_scanner.py across all environments
2. Triage - Prioritize critical findings (public data, open access)
3. Remediate - Apply recommended fixes per finding
4. Verify - Re-scan to confirm fixes resolved issues
5. Gate - Add scanner to PR checks for continuous enforcement

Module Quality Workflow

1. Analyze - Run tf_module_analyzer.py on each module
2. Score - Review complexity scores, identify modules over threshold
3. Refactor - Break down modules scoring above 70/100 complexity
4. Document - Fill in missing variable and output descriptions
5. Standardize - Apply consistent naming and file organization

CI Integration

# Security gate
python scripts/tf_security_scanner.py --path . --format json --min-severity high
if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
  echo "Security scan failed - blocking merge"
  exit 1
fi

# Module quality check
python scripts/tf_module_analyzer.py --path . --recursive --format json

Reference Documentation

• Terraform Patterns - Module design, state management, naming conventions

Common Patterns Quick Reference

Module Structure

modules/vpc/
  main.tf           # Primary resources
  variables.tf      # Input variables with descriptions
  outputs.tf        # Module outputs
  versions.tf       # Required providers and versions
  locals.tf         # Local values and computed expressions

Security Checklist

Resource	Check	Rule
Security Groups	No 0.0.0.0/0 ingress	Restrict to known CIDRs
S3 Buckets	No public ACLs	Use bucket policies instead
RDS	No public access	Set publicly_accessible = false
EBS/S3/RDS	Encryption enabled	Add encryption configuration
IAM	No wildcard actions	Use least-privilege policies
CloudTrail	Enabled in all regions	is_multi_region_trail = true
VPC	Flow logs enabled	Create flow log resources

Complexity Scoring

Score	Rating	Action
0-30	Low	No action needed
31-60	Medium	Consider splitting
61-80	High	Should refactor
81-100	Critical	Must refactor