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Writing and Modifying OpenTF Code

The OpenTF language is OpenTF's primary user interface, and all of OpenTF's workflows rely on configurations written in the OpenTF language.

OpenTF CLI includes several commands to make OpenTF code more convenient to work with. Integrating these commands into your editing workflow can potentially save you time and effort.

  • The opentf console command starts an interactive shell for evaluating OpenTF expressions, which can be a faster way to verify that a particular resource argument results in the value you expect.

  • The opentf fmt command rewrites OpenTF configuration files to a canonical format and style, so you don't have to waste time making minor adjustments for readability and consistency. It works well as a pre-commit hook in your version control system.

  • The opentf validate command validates the syntax and arguments of the OpenTF configuration files in a directory, including argument and attribute names and types for resources and modules. The plan and apply commands automatically validate a configuration before performing any other work, so validate isn't a crucial part of the core workflow, but it can be very useful as a pre-commit hook or as part of a continuous integration pipeline.