How to Import an AWS KMS Alias into Terraform

Import AWS KMS Alias with Terraback (recommended)

Terraback reverse-engineers your live infrastructure: it reads the AWS KMS resource with read-only credentials, generates the HCL, and produces the exact import block. Two commands take you from a live AWS KMS Alias 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_kms_alias.app
  id = "alias/app-prod-key"
}

Example aws_kms_alias configuration

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

resource "aws_kms_alias" "app" {
  name          = "alias/app-prod-key"
  target_key_id = "1234abcd-12ab-34cd-56ef-1234567890ab"
}

Gotchas when importing a AWS KMS Alias

• The import ID must include the alias/ prefix; app-prod-key without it will not import.
• An alias is a pointer to a key, not the key itself; the underlying aws_kms_key imports separately by its key ID or ARN.
• Aliases beginning with alias/aws/ are AWS-managed and cannot be imported or managed.
• target_key_id accepts the key ID or ARN but not another alias; point it at the real key the alias resolves to.

Doing it manually with terraform import

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