How to Import an AWS API Gateway Deployment into Terraform

Import AWS API Gateway Deployment with Terraback (recommended)

Terraback reverse-engineers your live infrastructure: it reads the Amazon API Gateway resource with read-only credentials, generates the HCL, and produces the exact import block. Two commands take you from a live AWS API Gateway Deployment 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_api_gateway_deployment.example
  id = "aabbccddee/1122334"
}

Example aws_api_gateway_deployment configuration

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

resource "aws_api_gateway_deployment" "example" {
  rest_api_id = "aabbccddee"

  triggers = {
    redeployment = sha1(jsonencode(aws_api_gateway_rest_api.example.body))
  }

  lifecycle {
    create_before_destroy = true
  }
}

Gotchas when importing a AWS API Gateway Deployment

• A deployment is a child of an aws_api_gateway_rest_api and imports separately; the parent REST API must already exist in state, and the import ID embeds its ID as the first path component.
• stage_name, stage_description, and variables are not returned on import, so Terraform may show a diff or recreate a stage; manage stages with a dedicated aws_api_gateway_stage resource instead.
• The triggers map and create_before_destroy lifecycle are what force redeployment on change; after import, set them deliberately or Terraform will not redeploy when the API definition changes.
• Importing the deployment does not import the underlying methods, integrations, or responses; those are separate resources you must import or define for the deployment to be reproducible.

Doing it manually with terraform import

The native approach is to write the aws_api_gateway_deployment block by hand, then run terraform import aws_api_gateway_deployment.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