How to Import an AWS API Gateway Stage into Terraform

Import AWS API Gateway Stage 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 Stage 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_stage.prod
  id = "12abcde345/prod"
}

Example aws_api_gateway_stage configuration

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

resource "aws_api_gateway_stage" "prod" {
  rest_api_id   = "12abcde345"
  stage_name    = "prod"
  deployment_id = "d7e8f9"

  cache_cluster_enabled = false
}

Gotchas when importing a AWS API Gateway Stage

• The import ID is the composite REST-API-ID/STAGE-NAME, not the stage ARN and not the stage name alone.
• A stage points at a deployment_id; that deployment is a separate aws_api_gateway_deployment you usually also need to manage.
• stage_settings such as method-level throttling and logging live under aws_api_gateway_method_settings, which import separately from the stage.
• Stages depend on the parent aws_api_gateway_rest_api; import or declare the REST API first so the references resolve.

Doing it manually with terraform import

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