How to Import an AWS KMS Key into Terraform

Import AWS KMS Key with Terraback (recommended)

Terraback reverse-engineers your live infrastructure: it reads the AWS Key Management Service resource with read-only credentials, generates the HCL, and produces the exact import block. Two commands take you from a live AWS KMS Key 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_key.app
  id = "12345678-1234-1234-1234-123456789012"
}

Example aws_kms_key configuration

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

resource "aws_kms_key" "app" {
  description             = "Application data encryption key"
  deletion_window_in_days = 30
  enable_key_rotation     = true
}

Gotchas when importing a AWS KMS Key

• Import by the key ID (the UUID), not by an alias or ARN.
• Aliases are a separate aws_kms_alias resource; importing the key does not import its alias.
• The key policy must match the live document exactly, including the default root-account statement, or Terraform plans an update.
• KMS keys are not destroyed immediately; deletion schedules the key for removal after deletion_window_in_days (7 to 30 days).

Doing it manually with terraform import

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