How to Import an AWS EC2 Launch Template into Terraform

Import AWS EC2 Launch Template with Terraback (recommended)

Terraback reverse-engineers your live infrastructure: it reads the Amazon EC2 resource with read-only credentials, generates the HCL, and produces the exact import block. Two commands take you from a live AWS EC2 Launch Template 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_launch_template.web
  id = "lt-0a1b2c3d4e5f6a7b8"
}

Example aws_launch_template configuration

Here is a realistic AWS EC2 Launch Template block. Terraback generates a fuller version from your actual resource attributes; this is a minimal, valid starting point.

resource "aws_launch_template" "web" {
  name          = "web-template"
  image_id      = "ami-0c55b159cbfafe1f0"
  instance_type = "t3.micro"
  key_name      = "deployer-key"

  vpc_security_group_ids = ["sg-0123456789abcdef0"]
}

Gotchas when importing a AWS EC2 Launch Template

• Import by the lt- ID, not the template name.
• Importing the template brings in the latest version; older versions and the default_version pointer may need explicit attention.
• user_data is stored base64-encoded, so Terraform may show a diff until the config supplies the exact same encoded value.
• Auto Scaling groups reference the template by id and version; importing the template does not import the groups that use it.

Doing it manually with terraform import

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