How to import resource which is held in a module, not root?

Question

I have an existing resource which i'd like to import into my config, to keep with style I have written this into a module, as below.

When I try to import it (using terraform import resource.module id) I get an error, as below >Before importing this resource, please create its configuration in the root module.

If I add this to my root, it errors on a dupe resource.

How do I go about importing a resource which is not in my root module?

Current structure: #modules.tf

module my_module {
   source ./modules
   ...
}

#./modules/main.tf

resource 'my_resource' 'my_resource_name' {
   ...
}

#./modules/output.tf

output {
   value = ...
}

Cody Jenkins · Accepted Answer · 2025-07-17 06:48:41Z

24

The easiest way to import resources into terraform is to first run terraform plan, check the command output and see what's the resource names it generates under the module.

Then run terraform import <resource-name-in-module> <arn/id, depend on the resource>.

So in your case, you would probably need to run something like

terraform import 'module.my_module.my_resource.my_resource_name' 'id'

Note the quotes around the module name; if the module contains count, this is necessary so it's a good habit to get used to.

edited Jul 17 at 6:48

Cody Jenkins

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answered Jul 26, 2023 at 17:54

Chen A.

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2 Comments

Ben Over a year ago

Thanks for this. My actual problem (which I don't think was well reprex'd here) required a moved block as well. The import was very helpful, however, thnak you.

storm Mar 24 at 11:24

worked when adding ‘module‘ to the resource part terraform import 'module.my_module.my_resource.my_resource_name' 'id'

r2oro · Accepted Answer · 2024-11-27 16:15:06Z

-1

In case of GCP Compute instances I had add to use:

terraform import module.my_instances_module.google_compute_instance.my_resource_name project_id/region/instance_name

answered Nov 27, 2024 at 16:15

r2oro

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1 Comment

phoehnel Nov 28, 2024 at 18:06

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