Laila F.
Sample Module design advice is excellent
Small composable modules and not wrapping single resources changed how our platform team designs modules.
Terraform and OpenTofu: infrastructure as code for teams
Write, test and review infrastructure code with Terraform or OpenTofu: providers, state, modules, imports, refactoring and safe CI workflows
Created by Rahul Menon
- Updated September 2026
- English
- Intermediate
What you will learn
- Write clear HCL with variables, outputs, locals and expressions
- Configure remote state with locking and understand what state contains
- Design and version reusable modules
- Import existing resources and refactor code without destroying anything
- Test infrastructure code and validate plans before applying
- Run a reviewed plan and apply workflow in CI
Course content
Infrastructure as code basics
The HCL language in depth
- Video: Variables, locals and outputs 10 min
- Video: count, for_each and dynamic blocks 11 min
- Article: Expressions and functions 9 min
- Video: Data sources and dependencies 9 min
Modules
- Video: Writing your first module 11 min
- Article: Module design: small and composable 10 min
- Video: Versioning and publishing modules 9 min
- Video: Using public modules wisely 8 min
Changing existing infrastructure safely
- Article: Importing resources with import blocks 11 min
- Video: Refactoring with moved blocks 10 min
- Video: Removing resources from management 8 min
- Article: Detecting and handling drift 10 min
Testing and policy
- Video: Static checks: fmt, validate and linters 8 min
- Video: Check blocks and preconditions 10 min
- Article: The built in test framework 12 min
- Video: Policy as code 9 min
Team workflows
- Video: Plan on pull request, apply on merge 12 min
- Article: Environments and directory layout 10 min
- Video: Upgrading providers and versions 9 min
- Video: Choosing between Terraform and OpenTofu 8 min
- Quiz: Final check 6 min
Requirements
- Basic command line and Git skills
- Some familiarity with a cloud provider, ideally AWS
- An AWS account for the hands on parts
Description
Infrastructure as code turns servers, networks and permissions into files you can review, version and reuse. Terraform made the approach mainstream, and OpenTofu, its open source fork under the Linux Foundation, shares the same language and workflow. This course teaches both, with the habits that make infrastructure code safe for a team.
What you will learn
- The HCL language: resources, variables, outputs, locals and expressions
- How state works, why it matters and how to store and lock it remotely
- Modules that are small, documented and versioned
- Importing existing resources and refactoring safely with moved blocks
- Testing with validate, plan checks, check blocks and the built in test framework
- A pull request workflow where every plan is reviewed before it is applied
Terraform or OpenTofu
Since 2023 Terraform has been released under the Business Source License, and OpenTofu was created as an open source fork. For everyday work the two are very similar: the same HCL, providers and workflow. Where features differ, such as OpenTofu's state encryption, I show both. Commands are written as terraform; replace with tofu if you use OpenTofu.
The examples
We build infrastructure on AWS: a VPC, a container service, a database and IAM roles, organised into modules and deployed to two environments. The concepts apply equally to Azure, Google Cloud and other providers.
Who this course is for
- Engineers moving from console clicks to code
- Developers who own their service's infrastructure
- Teams whose Terraform has grown messy and hard to change
Instructor
Rahul Menon
DevOps engineer teaching GitHub Actions and Terraform for small teams that ship every day
- 4.4 instructor rating
- 21 reviews
- 6,820 students
- 3 courses
- Sample
I help teams move from manual releases to pipelines they trust. Most of my work is GitHub Actions workflows, Terraform modules and the review habits that keep both maintainable.
I teach CI/CD and infrastructure as code as everyday engineering, not as a separate specialism. That means readable YAML, small reusable pieces, secrets handled properly and plans that a reviewer can understand in two minutes.
Every course uses a sample repository you fork and change. You will break the pipeline on purpose, read the logs and fix it, because that is the skill you will use most.
Student reviews
Ana M.
Sample Plan reading is a superpower
The plan review checklist caught a database replacement in our project on the first day I used it.
Kenneth O.
Sample Import and moved blocks explained
We adopted a whole hand built environment with import blocks and then refactored it with moved blocks, without a single replacement.
Nia W.
Sample Remote state finally makes sense
The state lesson explained why our team kept fighting lock errors and how to split state properly.
Beatriz S.
Sample Good coverage of both tools
Nice to see Terraform and OpenTofu side by side. The test framework lesson was the most useful for me.
Ilya K.
Sample Solid team workflow section
Plan on pull request and apply on merge with OIDC is now how we work. Would like more on Azure examples.
Diego R.
Sample Clear explanations of for_each
The reordering problem with count was exactly what broke our security group rules last year.
Simon P.
Sample Strong content, AWS heavy
Everything was accurate, but nearly all examples are AWS. Fine for me, maybe less so for others.
Keep exploring
All CI and Automation courses
More in CI and Automation
$69.99
Enroll now