How to Import an AWS Lambda Permission into Terraform

Import AWS Lambda Permission with Terraback (recommended)

Terraback reverse-engineers your live infrastructure: it reads the AWS Lambda resource with read-only credentials, generates the HCL, and produces the exact import block. Two commands take you from a live AWS Lambda Permission 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_lambda_permission.allow_eventbridge
  id = "nightly-batch/AllowExecutionFromEventBridge"
}

Example aws_lambda_permission configuration

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

resource "aws_lambda_permission" "allow_eventbridge" {
  statement_id  = "AllowExecutionFromEventBridge"
  action        = "lambda:InvokeFunction"
  function_name = "nightly-batch"
  principal     = "events.amazonaws.com"
  source_arn    = "arn:aws:events:us-east-1:123456789012:rule/nightly-job"
}

Gotchas when importing a AWS Lambda Permission

• The import ID is the composite FUNCTION-NAME/STATEMENT-ID; statement_id is the label you gave the grant when it was added.
• If the permission targets a specific version or alias, include the qualifier and use FUNCTION-NAME:QUALIFIER/STATEMENT-ID.
• This is a resource-based policy statement on the function, separate from the function's IAM execution role; do not confuse the two.
• principal and source_arn are immutable in effect; a mismatch forces the statement to be recreated, so copy them exactly from the function policy.

Doing it manually with terraform import

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