How to Import an AWS ECS Cluster into Terraform

Import AWS ECS Cluster with Terraback (recommended)

Terraback reverse-engineers your live infrastructure: it reads the Amazon ECS resource with read-only credentials, generates the HCL, and produces the exact import block. Two commands take you from a live AWS ECS Cluster 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_ecs_cluster.prod
  id = "prod"
}

Example aws_ecs_cluster configuration

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

resource "aws_ecs_cluster" "prod" {
  name = "prod"

  setting {
    name  = "containerInsights"
    value = "enabled"
  }
}

Gotchas when importing a AWS ECS Cluster

• The cluster imports by name; services and task definitions are separate aws_ecs_service and aws_ecs_task_definition resources.
• Capacity providers attach through aws_ecs_cluster_capacity_providers, not inline.
• Task definitions are immutable and versioned, so importing one pins a specific revision.

Doing it manually with terraform import

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