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Skillsalibabacloud-terraform-import

alibabacloud-terraform-import

Deployment & operations

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Updated 10-15 19:54

About this skill

Alibaba Cloud Resource Terraform Import Wizard

Step-by-step guide to import existing resources under an Alibaba Cloud account into local Terraform management. Automatically performs environment checks, resource discovery, HCL generation, state import, etc. Users only need to confirm at key decision points.

Two modes are supported:

  • One-time migration: Complete Phase 1-9 end to end
  • Incremental sync: When a Terraform working directory already exists, jump directly to incremental sync mode

Resource Support Scope

  • Theoretical scope: Any resource in the alicloud provider that has a Read method (i.e., can read state from the cloud). Most resources can be imported directly via the terraform import command or import blocks (Terraform 1.5+); a few resources without an Importer can be imported by manually constructing tfstate, but this requires exact matching of the provider's state structure and carries some risk. Check support status at https://registry.terraform.io/providers/aliyun/alicloud/latest/docs.
  • Runtime support map: Build the standard support set during Phase 3 by joining ResourceCenter list-resource-types results with IaCService list-resource-types Terraform mappings. Apply the ResourceCenter alias table in references/resource-hub-api.md to handle code mismatches such as EIP, NAT, MongoDB, and ACK.
  • Provider docs on demand: For long-tail or uncertain resources, call IaCService get-provider-document through MCP to confirm provider support, import instructions, arguments, and exported attributes. Do not fetch or read provider docs by default for common resources already covered by local references.
  • Pre-built fallback: For common resources, references/api-commands.md, references/terraform-patterns.md, and references/resource-types.md provide verified discovery commands, HCL templates, and complex import ID formats.
  • Beyond runtime/pre-built scope: Look up provider docs on the fly to provide commands and templates; accuracy depends on documentation content and users should verify before executing.

Command Format Requirements

MCP Execution Requirements

All Alibaba Cloud API calls MUST be executed through the alibabacloud-core MCP CallCLI-compatible tool. This includes every command that starts with aliyun <product> ..., aliyun resourcecenter ..., aliyun iacservice ..., aliyun sts ..., and aliyun ossutil ....

Tool names may be namespace-prefixed by the host client. Select the MCP tool whose name ends with AlibabaCloud___CallCLI or is documented by the installed plugin as CallCLI, and pass the CLI command string as that tool's command argument.

Do NOT execute Alibaba Cloud API commands in the local shell unless the user explicitly opts into a local CLI fallback because MCP is unavailable. Local shell execution is still allowed for non-cloud local operations: terraform, python3, mkdir, file writes, JSON processing, and local environment checks.

The bash snippets in this skill and its references/ are command references. For cloud API commands, run the aliyun ... line via MCP CallCLI rather than copying the entire bash block into a local shell. Avoid shell pipes, redirections, variables, or command substitutions inside CallCLI; resolve values first and pass one concrete aliyun ... command per MCP call.

All aliyun CLI commands must use plugin mode (lowercase-hyphenated format). CamelCase command names and parameter names are prohibited. Violating this rule will cause parameter errors or call failures.

Example (correct plugin-mode format):

aliyun vpc describe-vpcs --biz-region-id cn-shanghai --page-size 50

Parameter conversion rules:

  • Region: Prefer --biz-region-id (business parameter, corresponds to the API's RegionId); --region (framework parameter, controls endpoint region) should only be used when the API's RegionId is optional
  • Pagination: --page-size (not PageSize)
  • Others: Convert CamelCase parameter names to lowercase-hyphenated (VpcId -> --vpc-id, InstanceIds -> --instance-ids). Use aliyun <product> <command> --help to confirm
  • ResourceCenter: Always pass --endpoint resourcecenter.aliyuncs.com on every aliyun resourcecenter ... command. Do not rely on CLI plugin endpoint auto-resolution for ResourceCenter.
  • OSS: Use ossutil v2 syntax. List buckets with aliyun ossutil ls; get bucket details with aliyun ossutil api get-bucket-* --bucket <bucket> commands such as get-bucket-acl, get-bucket-versioning, get-bucket-lifecycle, get-bucket-encryption, get-bucket-tags, get-bucket-policy, and get-bucket-info. Do not use ossutil stat as the only source for redundancy_type; it may omit DataRedundancyType.

Phase 1: Environment Check

Run the following local commands to detect the environment. The local aliyun CLI is optional when MCP CallCLI is available; Terraform import/state operations still require local Terraform.

echo "=== aliyun CLI ===" && aliyun --version 2>&1 || echo "NOT_INSTALLED"
echo "=== terraform ===" && terraform --version 2>&1 || echo "NOT_INSTALLED"
echo "=== python3 ===" && python3 --version 2>&1 || echo "NOT_INSTALLED"
echo "=== OS ===" && uname -s 2>&1

Automatically handle missing tools based on output:

  • aliyun CLI missing: continue when MCP CallCLI is available; install local aliyun CLI only if the user explicitly requests local CLI fallback.
  • terraform missing (macOS): Run brew tap hashicorp/tap && brew install hashicorp/tap/terraform
  • terraform missing (Linux): Direct user to https://developer.hashicorp.com/terraform/install for manual installation (requires root)

Once all tools are ready, proceed to Phase 2.

Configure API invocation attribution:

When using MCP CallCLI, prefer MCP/plugin-level attribution when available. If the user explicitly opts into local aliyun CLI fallback, configure AI-Mode before executing any local aliyun command:

# Enable AI-Mode (required)
aliyun configure ai-mode enable

# Set User-Agent identifier (required)
aliyun configure ai-mode set-user-agent --user-agent "AlibabaCloud-Agent-Skills/alibabacloud-terraform-import"

# Update plugins to latest version (recommended)
aliyun plugin update

All subsequent local aliyun CLI commands will automatically carry AI-Mode and User-Agent identifiers. MCP CallCLI commands are still preferred for cloud API calls. See the "Command Format Requirements" section above for command formatting rules.

Disable AI-Mode (when the session ends or if needed):

aliyun configure ai-mode disable

Phase 2: Authentication Configuration

This Skill relies on the Alibaba Cloud default credential chain for authentication, supporting the following methods (by priority):

  1. Environment variables (ALICLOUD_ACCESS_KEY / ALICLOUD_SECRET_KEY) — highest priority
  2. aliyun CLI configuration file (~/.aliyun/config.json)
  3. ECS RAM role (only when running on ECS)

Important: The Terraform alicloud provider and aliyun CLI each read credentials independently, both prioritizing environment variables. When environment variables and CLI profile point to different accounts, environment variables take precedence.

Verify authentication:

Verify identity via MCP CallCLI and the default credential chain (without explicitly passing AK/SK):

aliyun sts get-caller-identity 2>&1

Analyze the output:

  • Confirm AccountId and UserId, record Region
  • If the credential source is unexpected (e.g., environment variables and CLI profile point to different accounts), inform the user of the credential conflict and suggest unifying credential configuration before retrying

If an error occurs, prompt the user to:

  • Check whether credentials are configured (via aliyun configure or environment variables)
  • Check permissions (requires ReadOnlyAccess or corresponding resource Describe permissions)
  • Refer to references/ram-policies.md for required permissions

Phase 3: Working Directory Initialization

Ask the user for the following information:

  • Target working directory path (default ~/alicloud-terraform)
  • Target Region (confirm if already inferred from Phase 2, otherwise ask)
  • Whether a Terraform working directory already exists (skip this Phase if so)

After user confirmation, automatically complete the following:

  1. Create working directory and .import/ subdirectory (for storing intermediate artifacts)
  2. Generate provider.tf in the target directory (refer to examples/provider.tf), replacing the region default with the user-confirmed Region. The provider block must include configuration_source = "AlibabaCloud-Agent-Skills/alibabacloud-terraform-import" for UA tracking
  3. Run terraform init in the target directory
  4. Analyze init output, confirm provider download succeeded
  5. (Optional enhancement) Run terraform providers schema -json, extract fields ending in _id or _ids from all resources to build a reference field whitelist for Phase 6. If schema output is too large causing parse timeout, skip this step; Phase 6 will fall back to static dependency rules for reference resolution
  6. Build the runtime support map:
    • Call iacservice list-resource-types through MCP CallCLI (paginate to get all), replace the ALIYUN prefix in the resourceType field with ACS, and build a terraformResourceType <-> ResourceCode bidirectional mapping table.
    • Call resourcecenter list-resource-types --endpoint resourcecenter.aliyuncs.com through MCP CallCLI and join its ResourceType values with the IaCService mapping table to determine which resource types are both discoverable by ResourceCenter and representable as Terraform resources.
    • Merge the ResourceCenter Type Alias Table from references/resource-hub-api.md into byResourceCode so ResourceCenter codes that differ from IaCService codes (e.g., ACS::EIP::EipAddress vs ACS::EIP::Address) resolve correctly without LLM fallback.
    • Write the result to .import/resource-type-mapping.json for Phase 4/5/6. Initialize .import/provider-doc-index.json as an empty cache keyed by terraformResourceType; later phases append compact provider doc evidence. If either API call fails or permissions are insufficient, fall back to the static mapping table in references/resource-hub-api.md and native product APIs in references/api-commands.md.
  7. Inform user that initialization is complete, proceed to Phase 4

Phase 4: Resource Discovery

Step 0 — Query ResourceCenter Supported Resource Types

Call aliyun resourcecenter list-resource-types --endpoint resourcecenter.aliyuncs.com through MCP CallCLI to get the list of resource types supported by API A (search-resources) and API B (list-resource-relationships), cache for use in this Phase and Phase 5. Every ResourceCenter call in this phase must include --endpoint resourcecenter.aliyuncs.com. See references/resource-hub-api.md for details.

Do not rely on a SupportedFeatures field in this response; some environments omit it. Treat returned ResourceType values as candidates and probe API A/B once per target resource type, caching success or failure. If the call fails or insufficient permissions, skip Step 0 and use native product APIs for resource discovery throughout.

Step 1 — Discover Resources

For each target resource type, choose discovery method by the following priority:

  1. If the resource type is returned by ResourceCenter and a one-time API A probe succeeds -> Use API A (search-resources) for batch query, see references/resource-hub-api.md
  2. Otherwise -> Use MCP CallCLI product API commands in references/api-commands.md

Known native-API fallbacks:

  • NAT Gateway may not be searchable through ResourceCenter in some accounts. Use vpc describe-nat-gateways when the user asks for NAT resources or a VPC dependency tree includes them.
  • OSS bucket discovery must use ossutil v2 product APIs for details even when ResourceCenter found the bucket, because ResourceCenter metadata is not enough to generate drift-free HCL.

If the user needs to discover resource types not in references/api-commands.md:

  • First check provider docs through IaCService get-provider-document via MCP CallCLI, not WebFetch, to determine support:

    aliyun iacservice get-provider-document --resource-type alicloud_<name> --endpoint iac.cn-zhangjiakou.aliyuncs.com

    Cache the result or extracted evidence in .import/provider-doc-index.json. Extract only the relevant sections (Import, Argument Reference, Attributes Reference) instead of loading or reciting the full document.

    • Has Import section -> Supports terraform import, proceed normally
    • No Import section but provider supports the resource -> Can import via manual tfstate construction; inform user of risks before proceeding
    • Provider does not support the resource at all -> Clearly inform that import is not possible

  • After confirming support, check aliyun CLI docs (https://help.aliyun.com/document_detail/110244.html) or corresponding product API docs for discovery commands

Execute the appropriate cloud API commands through MCP CallCLI, collect output, and generate a resource discovery report summarizing counts and ID lists by type.

Empty discovery results handling:

If a resource type (e.g., NAT Gateway) returns empty results but the user expects them to exist, proactively investigate:

  • Confirm whether the resource is in a different Region
  • Confirm whether the current credentials have Describe permission for that resource
  • Confirm whether the resource has been released (can check audit logs)
  • Inform user that discovery results don't match expectations, ask for confirmation before continuing

Phase 5: Select Import Scope and Depth

Present the resource discovery report and ask the user:

  • Import all or select specific resource types?
  • Filter by VPC scope?
  • Filter by Tag?
  • Import depth strategy:
    1. Import only discovered resources (no related resource queries, depth=0)
    2. Import one level of related resources (depth=1)
    3. Import complete dependency tree (depth=unlimited, recommended)

Build Resource Dependency Graph

Based on the user's chosen depth strategy:

Depth=0

  • Skip API B calls
  • Directly use static dependency rules from references/dependency-rules.md to sort Phase 4 discovered resources
  • Generate import order

Depth=1

  • For each resource discovered in Phase 4, if its type is in API B's support list -> Call API B (list-resource-relationships) to get directly related resources
  • Do not recursively call API B for returned related resources
  • Merge discovered resources and one-level related resources, topologically sort the resource graph, generate import order

Depth=unlimited

  • From Phase 4 discovered resources, identify root resources with no parent dependencies (VPC, OSS Bucket, DNS domains, RAM users, etc.)
  • For each root resource, if its type is in API B's support list -> Call API B to get related resources
  • Recursively call API B for related resources until no new resources appear (new resource set == empty set)
  • For resource types not supported by API B -> Fall back to static dependency rules in references/dependency-rules.md
  • Merge all relationship trees, topologically sort the resource graph, generate import order

Fallback Static Import Order

Layer 0: VPC, OSS Bucket (no dependencies)
Layer 1: VSwitch, Security Group, EIP (depend on VPC)
Layer 2: NAT Gateway, SLB (depend on VPC + VSwitch)
Layer 3: ECS Instance (depends on VSwitch + Security Group)
Layer 4: Disk (depends on ECS)
Layer 5: RDS, Redis, MongoDB (depend on VSwitch)
Layer 6: DNS Record (depends on Domain)

For detailed dependency rules, refer to references/dependency-rules.md.

Phase 6: Generate Terraform HCL Code

Process resources in batches by type. For each resource type:

  1. Execute detail retrieval commands through MCP CallCLI (JSON format)
  2. Resolve provider documentation evidence before writing HCL:
    • For common resources covered by references/terraform-patterns.md and references/api-commands.md, provider doc fetch is optional.
    • For long-tail resources, uncertain fields, missing templates, or drift that cannot be fixed from local references, call IaCService get-provider-document once for the distinct terraformResourceType.
    • Cache a compact summary in .import/provider-doc-index.json: import support status, import ID format if present, required arguments, key optional arguments relevant to the cloud details, and exported attributes.
    • Do not paste the full provider document into generated files or chat output; use targeted sections only.
  3. Parse JSON, generate corresponding .tf files and write to working directory

Provider-version and field-safety rules:

  • Use terraform providers schema -json or the initialized provider version to choose version-sensitive attribute names. For alicloud_security_group, use security_group_name only when the provider schema supports it; otherwise use legacy name.
  • Omit empty optional strings instead of writing description = "". Some alicloud provider schemas reject empty descriptions or would plan to clear a non-empty cloud-side description.
  • For OSS buckets, actively query get-bucket-info, get-bucket-lifecycle, get-bucket-encryption, get-bucket-tags, get-bucket-policy, get-bucket-versioning, and get-bucket-cors. Only emit blocks or attributes that are present in the cloud result or imported state. Set redundancy_type to the actual value from get-bucket-info or imported state; never default it to LRS or ZRS.

One file per resource type, filename format: <product>_<resource_type>.tf:

vpc_vpcs.tf
vpc_vswitches.tf
vpc_security_groups.tf
vpc_eips.tf
vpc_nat_gateways.tf
ecs_instances.tf
ecs_disks.tf
oss_buckets.tf
rds_instances.tf
kvstore_instances.tf
dds_instances.tf
slb_load_balancers.tf
alidns_domains.tf
alidns_records.tf

Refer to references/terraform-patterns.md for HCL code templates and examples/ for examples.

Cross-Resource Reference Resolution

When generating HCL for each resource, determine for each field value whether to replace with a terraform resource address, using the following priority:

  1. API B relationship first: If the resource was discovered via API B (list-resource-relationships), its parent or related resources are already determined. Combined with the reference field whitelist extracted in Phase 3, find type-matching _id fields in the current resource and directly replace with the corresponding terraform resource address. The relationship is definitive, no guessing needed.

  2. Whitelist + mapping table dual-match fallback: For resources not covered by API B, if the field name is in the Phase 3 reference field whitelist and the field value has a corresponding entry in the resource ID mapping table, replace with terraform resource address.

  3. dependency-rules.md static rules fallback: For edge cases not covered by the above two layers (composite IDs, reference fields not ending in _id, etc.), refer to static rules in references/dependency-rules.md.

Resource ID Mapping Table

After generating each resource block, immediately append a record to the mapping table:

<cloud resource ID>  ->  <terraform resource address>
# Example:
vpc-bp1xxx   ->  alicloud_vpc.vpc_prod_main
vsw-bp1aaa   ->  alicloud_vswitch.vsw_prod_a
sg-bp1xxx    ->  alicloud_security_group.sg_web

Write the mapping table to .import/id-mapping.json for use in subsequent phases.

Other key principles:

  • Resource names use <type>_<name> format (e.g., alicloud_vpc.vpc_prod_main)
  • Password/secret fields use variables (var.db_password)
  • Preserve original tags

Phase 7: Import State

Based on the topological sort generated in Phase 5, generate the complete list of terraform import commands, present to user for confirmation, then execute in batches.

Before generating each import command, resolve the import ID format in this order:

  1. references/resource-types.md for known composite IDs and special cases.
  2. Cached provider documentation evidence from .import/provider-doc-index.json.
  3. IaCService get-provider-document via MCP CallCLI, extracting only the Import section.
  4. If no import section exists but the resource is provider-supported, stop and ask for confirmation before any manual tfstate construction.

Batch 1 — Network foundation:

terraform import alicloud_vpc.vpc_<name> <vpc-id>
terraform import alicloud_vswitch.vsw_<name> <vsw-id>
terraform import alicloud_security_group.sg_<name> <sg-id>

Batch 2 — Network ancillary:

terraform import alicloud_nat_gateway.nat_<name> <nat-id>
terraform import alicloud_eip_address.eip_<name> <eip-id>

Batch 3 — Compute:

terraform import alicloud_instance.ecs_<name> <instance-id>
terraform import alicloud_disk.disk_<name> <disk-id>

Batch 4 — Storage:

terraform import alicloud_oss_bucket.bucket_<name> <bucket-name>

Batch 5 — Database:

terraform import alicloud_db_instance.rds_<name> <db-id>
terraform import alicloud_kvstore_instance.redis_<name> <redis-id>
terraform import alicloud_mongodb_instance.mongo_<name> <mongo-id>

Batch 6 — Load Balancing:

terraform import alicloud_slb_load_balancer.slb_<name> <slb-id>

Batch 7 — DNS:

terraform import alicloud_dns_domain.domain_<name> <domain-name>

After each batch, analyze output and handle common errors:

  • ResourceNotFound: Resource ID is incorrect, re-verify
  • PermissionDenied: Need Describe permission for the corresponding resource
  • already managed: Resource already in state, skip
  • ID format error: Refer to import format in references/resource-types.md

Phase 8: Validation

Execute the following commands to validate import results:

# List all resources in state
terraform state list 2>&1

# Run plan, target is No changes
terraform plan -refresh=true 2>&1

Analyze plan output:

  • No changes -> Validation passed, proceed to Phase 9
  • Has diff -> Analyze the cause, refer to common diff fix patterns in references/terraform-patterns.md, provide fix recommendations and inform user, execute fix after user confirmation

Common diff causes:

  • Tag format mismatch (need to adjust tags syntax in HCL)
  • Password fields cannot be read from API (use ignore_changes to ignore)
  • Computed field differences (add lifecycle { ignore_changes = [...] })
  • Default value differences (explicitly set values matching the cloud)

Phase 9: Resource Relationship Graph

Execute the following commands to generate a resource relationship graph:

# Export state JSON
terraform show -json > .import/tf_state.json 2>&1

# Extract dependencies
python3 -c "
import json, sys
with open('.import/tf_state.json') as f:
    state = json.load(f)
resources = state.get('values', {}).get('root_module', {}).get('resources', [])
print(f'Total resources: {len(resources)}')
for r in resources:
    deps = r.get('depends_on', [])
    if deps:
        for d in deps:
            print(f'  {d} --> {r[\"address\"]}')
" 2>&1

Based on output, generate a text-format resource relationship graph (tree structure) showing:

  • Network layer -> Compute layer -> Data layer dependency chains
  • Security group cross-cutting references
  • Load balancer backend binding relationships

Refer to examples/dependency-graph.txt for example format.

Incremental Sync Mode

Use this mode when a Terraform working directory already exists. Automatically detects three types of changes:

1. Detect new resources (exist in cloud, not in state):

Execute the following commands to compare state and cloud ID lists. Run terraform state list locally, but run the aliyun ... cloud query through MCP CallCLI:

# ECS example
terraform state list | grep alicloud_instance
aliyun ecs describe-instances --biz-region-id $REGION --page-size 100 \
  --output cols=InstanceId rows=Instances.Instance 2>&1

Compare the two lists, find the difference set, generate HCL + import commands for new resources, inform user for confirmation before executing.

2. Detect deleted resources (exist in state, not in cloud):

Run existence checks for each resource in state; if API returns empty, execute:

terraform state rm alicloud_instance.<name>

3. Detect configuration drift:

Execute the following command to detect drift:

terraform plan -refresh=true 2>&1

For detailed incremental sync procedures, refer to references/incremental-sync.md.

References

  • references/resource-types.md — Complete resource type mapping table (20+ resource types)
  • references/terraform-patterns.md — HCL code templates + common diff fixes
  • references/state-management.md — terraform state command reference
  • references/api-commands.md — aliyun CLI command quick reference for MCP CallCLI product API queries
  • references/dependency-rules.md — Resource dependency layers and import order (API B fallback path)
  • references/resource-hub-api.md — ResourceCenter API guide (list-resource-types / search-resources / list-resource-relationships)
  • references/incremental-sync.md — Detailed incremental sync procedures

Do not read reference files fully unless they are directly needed for the current phase. Prefer targeted search by resource type, product, API name, or error message.