How to Import an AWS AMI into Terraform

Import AWS AMI with Terraback (recommended)

Terraback reverse-engineers your live infrastructure: it reads the Amazon EC2 resource with read-only credentials, generates the HCL, and produces the exact import block. Two commands take you from a live AWS AMI to managed Terraform.

terraback scan all aws --region us-east-1

terraback aws import --method bulk

The Terraform import block

Terraback emits a Terraform 1.5+ import block like the one below. Because the block lives in your configuration, the import is reviewable in a pull request and repeatable across environments.

import {
  to = aws_ami.golden
  id = "ami-0c55b159cbfafe1f0"
}

Example aws_ami configuration

Here is a realistic AWS AMI block. Terraback generates a fuller version from your actual resource attributes; this is a minimal, valid starting point.

resource "aws_ami" "golden" {
  name                = "golden-base-2024"
  description         = "Hardened base image"
  architecture        = "x86_64"
  root_device_name    = "/dev/xvda"
  virtualization_type = "hvm"
}

Gotchas when importing a AWS AMI

• Manage your own AMIs with aws_ami; to merely reference an AMI you did not create (such as an Amazon-owned image), use the aws_ami data source instead.
• The underlying EBS snapshots backing the AMI are separate aws_ebs_snapshot resources and are not imported with the image.
• ebs_block_device mappings are not always reconstructed perfectly; compare the block device layout against the console after import.
• Many AMI attributes are immutable, so a mismatch in architecture or virtualization_type forces replacement rather than an in-place update.

Doing it manually with terraform import

The native approach is to write the aws_ami block by hand, then run terraform import aws_ami.example <import-id> for every resource, one at a time. That works for a handful of resources, but it does not scale: you author all the HCL yourself and repeat the command for each item. Terraback generates the HCL and the import blocks for your whole account in one pass.

Import other AWS resources