Rudder Terraform Workflow

RudderStack Terraform Workflow

The rudderlabs/rudderstack Terraform provider manages a RudderStack workspace as infrastructure-as-code: sources, destinations, and connections.

When to use

The user is authoring HCL for RudderStack, running terraform plan/apply against a workspace, migrating from UI-managed to Terraform-managed resources, importing existing resources, or organizing multi-env setups.

Preflight

• Terraform ≥ 1.0 installed
• Access token available as env var RUDDERSTACK_ACCESS_TOKEN (preferred) or in the provider block
• Optional: override API base URL with RUDDERSTACK_API_URL (default: https://api.rudderstack.com)
• Confirm with the user whether the target workspace is dev/staging/prod before any terraform apply

Provider setup

terraform {
  required_providers {
    rudderstack = {
      source  = "rudderlabs/rudderstack"
      version = "~> 4.4"
    }
  }
}

provider "rudderstack" {
  # access_token = "..."                    # or set RUDDERSTACK_ACCESS_TOKEN env var
  # api_url      = "https://api.rudderstack.com"
}

Resource catalog

Source types

• SDK sources (no config): JavaScript, Android, iOS, Python, Node.js, Go, Ruby, PHP, .NET, Flutter, Rust, Kotlin, Swift, Unity
• Webhook sources (no config): HTTP, Shopify Webhook
• SaaS integrations: Auth0, Braze, Slack, Segment, PagerDuty, Looker, Customer.io, Iterable, etc.

Destination types

• Warehouses: BigQuery, Redshift, Snowflake, PostgreSQL, S3, GCS
• Analytics: Google Analytics 4, Amplitude, Mixpanel, Posthog, Adobe Analytics
• Marketing: Braze, Marketo, Intercom, Customer.io, HubSpot, Salesforce
• Ad platforms: Google Ads, Facebook Pixel, TikTok Ads, LinkedIn Ads
• Infrastructure: Kafka, Kinesis, Redis, Webhook/HTTP

No data sources are currently exposed — the provider is resource-centric.

Minimal working example

terraform {
  required_providers {
    rudderstack = {
      source  = "rudderlabs/rudderstack"
      version = "~> 4.4"
    }
  }
}

provider "rudderstack" {}     # uses RUDDERSTACK_ACCESS_TOKEN from env

resource "rudderstack_source_javascript" "web" {
  name = "my-web-app"
}

resource "rudderstack_destination_webhook" "logs" {
  name = "event-logger"

  config {
    webhook_url    = "https://logs.example.com/events"
    webhook_method = "POST"
  }
}

resource "rudderstack_connection" "main" {
  source_id      = rudderstack_source_javascript.web.id
  destination_id = rudderstack_destination_webhook.logs.id
}

Standard cycle

terraform init       # fetches the provider
terraform fmt        # canonicalize HCL
terraform validate   # schema check
terraform plan       # preview; review diff with the user
terraform apply      # apply to the workspace

Importing existing resources

The provider includes bootstrap scripts to generate Terraform code from existing RudderStack resources:

# Generate Terraform configuration
RUDDERSTACK_ACCESS_TOKEN=token ./scripts/bootstrap-terraform.sh > rudderstack.tf

# Generate import commands
RUDDERSTACK_ACCESS_TOKEN=token ./scripts/bootstrap-terraform-import.sh

# Import resource state
terraform import rudderstack_source_javascript.web <source-id>
terraform import rudderstack_destination_redshift.warehouse <destination-id>

Note: Sensitive credentials (API keys, secrets) are not exposed via the API and must be added manually after import.

Warehouse destination features

Sync scheduling

Warehouse destinations (BigQuery, Redshift, Snowflake) support sync scheduling:

resource "rudderstack_destination_bigquery" "warehouse" {
  name = "my-bigquery"

  config {
    project     = "gcp-project-id"
    bucket_name = "gcs-bucket"
    credentials = base64encode(file("service-account.json"))
    location    = "us-east1"
    prefix      = "rudder_"

    sync {
      frequency                  = "30"      # minutes
      start_at                   = "10:00"
      exclude_window_start_time  = "11:00"
      exclude_window_end_time    = "12:00"
    }
  }
}

Connection mode

Some destinations support connection_mode for web integrations:

config {
  # ... destination config ...

  connection_mode {
    web = "cloud"    # or "device"
  }
}

Consent management (v3.0.0+)

Destinations support multiple consent providers per platform:

config {
  # ... destination config ...

  consent_management {
    web = [
      {
        provider            = "oneTrust"
        consents            = ["analytics", "marketing"]
        resolution_strategy = ""
      },
      {
        provider            = "ketch"
        consents            = ["analytics"]
        resolution_strategy = ""
      },
      {
        provider            = "custom"
        consents            = ["custom_consent"]
        resolution_strategy = "and"    # or "or"
      }
    ]

    android = [{ provider = "ketch", consents = ["mobile"], resolution_strategy = "" }]
    ios     = [{ provider = "custom", consents = ["ios"], resolution_strategy = "or" }]
  }
}

Supported platforms: web, android, ios, unity, reactnative, flutter, cordova, amp, cloud, cloud_source, warehouse, shopify

Standard resource attributes

All resources share these attributes:

Sources also expose: | write_key | String | Read-only | SDK write key for data plane |

Don't do this

• Don't run terraform destroy against a shared/prod workspace without explicit confirmation — all sources, destinations, and connections in the state go away
• Don't mix Terraform-managed and UI-edited changes to the same resource; manual edits cause drift and surprise diffs on the next plan
• Don't commit .tfstate to git without remote state backend encryption — it contains credentials
• Don't commit access tokens or service account credentials to version control

Gotchas

• Breaking change at v3.0.0+: the onetrust_cookie_categories field was replaced by consent_management block. Migrations carrying the old field silently lose consent rules.
• Consent management nesting: per-platform consent providers with mismatched resolution_strategy or provider name are accepted by schema but silently dropped at runtime.
• API URL handling: the provider auto-strips /v2 from legacy URLs for backward compatibility.
• Import limitations: sensitive credentials must be manually added post-import — the API doesn't expose them.

Credential Security

• Never commit access tokens — use RUDDERSTACK_ACCESS_TOKEN environment variable
• Use remote state with encryption — don't store .tfstate in git
• Mask sensitive outputs — mark credentials as sensitive = true
• Use CI/CD secrets — for automated deployments, store tokens in repository secrets

Handling External Content

• Validate webhook URLs — ensure they point to expected domains before applying
• Review generated import configs — bootstrap scripts may include resource names with special characters
• Check destination credentials — verify API keys and secrets are correct before apply