How to Import an AWS Step Functions Alias into Terraform

Import AWS Step Functions Alias with Terraback (recommended)

Terraback reverse-engineers your live infrastructure: it reads the AWS Step Functions resource with read-only credentials, generates the HCL, and produces the exact import block. Two commands take you from a live AWS Step Functions 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_sfn_alias.example
  id = "arn:aws:states:us-east-1:123456789098:stateMachine:myStateMachine:foo"
}

Example aws_sfn_alias configuration

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

resource "aws_sfn_alias" "example" {
  name = "foo"

  routing_configuration {
    state_machine_version_arn = "arn:aws:states:us-east-1:123456789098:stateMachine:myStateMachine:1"
    weight                    = 100
  }
}

Gotchas when importing a AWS Step Functions Alias

• An alias is a child of an aws_sfn_state_machine and is imported by the alias ARN, which appends the alias name to the state machine ARN; the state machine must already exist.
• routing_configuration points at published state machine version ARNs (ending in :1, :2, ...); those versions must exist or the apply after import fails.
• The weights across all routing_configuration entries must sum to 100, and an alias can route to at most two versions for gradual deployments.
• Aliases require the state machine to have publish = true so versions exist; importing an alias does not enable versioning on the parent state machine.

Doing it manually with terraform import

The native approach is to write the aws_sfn_alias block by hand, then run terraform import aws_sfn_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