How to Import an AWS Route Table into Terraform

Import AWS Route Table with Terraback (recommended)

Terraback reverse-engineers your live infrastructure: it reads the Amazon VPC resource with read-only credentials, generates the HCL, and produces the exact import block. Two commands take you from a live AWS Route Table 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_route_table.public
  id = "rtb-0a1b2c3d4e5f6a7b8"
}

Example aws_route_table configuration

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

resource "aws_route_table" "public" {
  vpc_id = "vpc-0a1b2c3d4e5f6a7b8"

  route {
    cidr_block = "0.0.0.0/0"
    gateway_id = "igw-0a1b2c3d4e5f6a7b8"
  }

  tags = {
    Name = "public-rt"
  }
}

Gotchas when importing a AWS Route Table

• Import by the rtb- ID.
• Subnet associations are separate aws_route_table_association resources and are not imported with the table.
• If you manage routes as inline route blocks, do not also declare separate aws_route resources for the same table, or Terraform will fight itself.
• The VPC main route table is created implicitly and is better managed with aws_default_route_table than aws_route_table.

Doing it manually with terraform import

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