How to Import an AWS X-Ray Group into Terraform

Import AWS X-Ray Group with Terraback (recommended)

Terraback reverse-engineers your live infrastructure: it reads the AWS X-Ray resource with read-only credentials, generates the HCL, and produces the exact import block. Two commands take you from a live AWS X-Ray Group 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_xray_group.example
  id = "arn:aws:xray:us-east-1:123456789012:group/example/TNGX7SW5U6QY36T4ZMOUA3HVLBYCZTWDIOOXY3CJAXGSVKW7D6RA"
}

Example aws_xray_group configuration

Here is a realistic AWS X-Ray Group block. Terraback generates a fuller version from your actual resource attributes; this is a minimal, valid starting point.

resource "aws_xray_group" "example" {
  group_name        = "example"
  filter_expression = "responsetime > 5"

  insights_configuration {
    insights_enabled      = true
    notifications_enabled = true
  }
}

Gotchas when importing a AWS X-Ray Group

• A group is imported by its full ARN (which includes a long opaque suffix), not by group_name; retrieve it with `aws xray get-groups`.
• filter_expression uses X-Ray filter syntax and is required; an invalid expression makes the apply after import fail.
• insights_configuration is an optional nested block; if the live group has insights enabled, include the block or Terraform will plan to disable it.
• Groups are independent of the regional aws_xray_encryption_config and aws_xray_sampling_rule resources; importing a group brings in none of those.

Doing it manually with terraform import

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