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Quick Start

Get up and running with nx-terraform in 3 simple steps. For detailed explanations, see the Tutorials.

Prerequisites​

  • Node.js v18+ installed
  • Terraform CLI installed (optional, but recommended)

Step 1: Create Workspace​

npx create-nx-terraform-app my-terraform-workspace
cd my-terraform-workspace

What you should see:

✔ Choose backend type › AWS S3 (or local)
✔ Choose package manager › npm
✔ Creating workspace...
✔ Installing dependencies...
✔ Initializing git repository...

Successfully created nx workspace 'my-terraform-workspace'

Next steps:
  cd my-terraform-workspace
  nx run terraform-setup:terraform-apply

Verification:

ls packages/
# terraform-setup  terraform-infra

Learn more: Workspace Creation Guide

Step 2: Apply Backend (if using remote backend)​

nx run terraform-setup:terraform-apply

What you should see:

> nx run terraform-setup:terraform-apply

Terraform will perform the following actions:
  # aws_s3_bucket.terraform_state will be created
  ...

Plan: 2 to add, 0 to change, 0 to destroy.

Do you want to perform these actions? yes
Apply complete! Resources: 2 added, 0 changed, 0 destroyed.

Success indicators:

  • ✅ S3 bucket created (check AWS Console)
  • ✅ backend.config file generated in packages/terraform-setup/
  • ✅ No errors in output

Common issues:

  • Error: AWS credentials not found → Configure AWS credentials: aws configure
  • Error: Bucket already exists → Choose a different bucket name in terraform-setup/main.tf
Local Backend

If you chose a local backend, skip this step. See Backend Types for details.

Step 3: Deploy Infrastructure​

nx run terraform-infra:terraform-init

What you should see:

> nx run terraform-infra:terraform-init

Initializing the backend...
Successfully configured the backend "s3"!

Terraform has been successfully initialized!

Success indicator: ✅ Backend initialized, .terraform/ directory created

nx run terraform-infra:terraform-plan

What you should see:

> nx run terraform-infra:terraform-plan

Terraform will perform the following actions:
  # local_file.example will be created
  ...

Plan: 1 to add, 0 to change, 0 to destroy.

Success indicator: ✅ Plan shows resources to create, no errors

nx run terraform-infra:terraform-apply

What you should see:

> nx run terraform-infra:terraform-apply

Do you want to perform these actions? yes

Apply complete! Resources: 1 added, 0 changed, 0 destroyed.

Success indicator: ✅ Resources created successfully

Verify deployment:

nx run terraform-infra:terraform-output
# Shows any outputs defined in your infrastructure

What's Next?​

Verify Everything Works​

Check that Nx discovered your projects:

nx show projects

Expected output:

terraform-setup
terraform-infra

View your infrastructure dependency graph:

nx graph

What you should see: Visual graph showing terraform-infra → terraform-setup dependency

Common Commands​

nx run <project>:terraform-init    # Initialize
nx run <project>:terraform-plan    # Plan changes
nx run <project>:terraform-apply   # Apply changes
nx run <project>:terraform-validate # Validate
nx run <project>:terraform-fmt     # Format code
nx run <project>:terraform-output   # View outputs

For detailed command reference, see Targets Documentation.

Need Help?​