generate-imports-from-plan 0.2.0

Generate Terraform import blocks directly from a binary .plan file

generate-imports-from-plan

Generates Terraform import {} blocks directly from a binary .plan file — no terraform CLI, no provider plugins, no terraform init required.

Why?

terraform show -json does not expose all planned attribute values — computed fields like resource names and resource group names are missing from the JSON output. This tool reads the raw msgpack-encoded attributes directly from the binary plan, giving access to all values needed to construct Azure resource IDs.

Installation

uvx generate-imports-from-plan terraform.plan

Or install permanently:

uv tool install generate-imports-from-plan
generate-imports-from-plan terraform.plan

Workflow

# 1. Generate plan
terraform plan -out terraform.plan

# 2. Generate import blocks and write to file
generate-imports-from-plan terraform.plan > imports.tf

# 3. Fill in any remaining # TODO ids, then re-plan and apply
terraform plan -out terraform.plan
terraform apply terraform.plan

Output

import {
  to = module.core.azurerm_resource_group.this
  id = "/subscriptions/00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000/resourceGroups/rg-myapp-dev-we-01"
}

import {
  to = module.core.azurerm_storage_account.this
  id = "/subscriptions/00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000/resourceGroups/rg-myapp-dev-we-01/providers/Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts/stmyapp01"
}

Resources whose type is not in the built-in formula table get an empty id with a # TODO comment.

Flags

Flag	Description
--skip-imported	Skip resources that already have an import {} block in the config
--list	Print address\tid pairs instead of HCL blocks
--list --powershell	Output a PowerShell array literal of resource addresses
--target ADDR [ADDR ...]	Only process the specified resource addresses
--debug	Dump all decoded attributes per resource — useful when an ID shows a placeholder

Adding a resource type

If a resource type is missing, extend _ID_FORMULAS in generate_imports.py:

"azurerm_my_resource":
    lambda a, s: _arm(s, _str(a, "resource_group_name"),
                      "Microsoft.MyNamespace/myResources", _str(a, "name")),

_arm(sub, rg, *segments) builds /subscriptions/{sub}/resourceGroups/{rg}/providers/{...}.
_str(attrs, key) returns the attribute value or <key> as a placeholder when unknown.

Use --debug to see all available attribute names for an unrecognised resource type.

Requirements

• Python 3.11+
• uv (for uvx)