How to Import an Azure Cosmos DB SQL Container into Terraform

Import Azure Cosmos DB SQL Container with Terraback (recommended)

Terraback reverse-engineers your live infrastructure: it reads the Azure Cosmos DB resource with read-only credentials, generates the HCL, and produces the exact import block. Two commands take you from a live Azure Cosmos DB SQL Container to managed Terraform.

terraback scan all azure --subscription-id YOUR_ID

terraback azure 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 = azurerm_cosmosdb_sql_container.orders
  id = "/subscriptions/00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000/resourceGroups/prod-rg/providers/Microsoft.DocumentDB/databaseAccounts/prod-cosmos/sqlDatabases/appdb/containers/orders"
}

Example azurerm_cosmosdb_sql_container configuration

Here is a realistic Azure Cosmos DB SQL Container block. Terraback generates a fuller version from your actual resource attributes; this is a minimal, valid starting point.

resource "azurerm_cosmosdb_sql_container" "orders" {
  name                = "orders"
  resource_group_name = "prod-rg"
  account_name        = "prod-cosmos"
  database_name       = "appdb"
  partition_key_paths = ["/customerId"]
  throughput          = 400
}

Gotchas when importing a Azure Cosmos DB SQL Container

• This is a child of the SQL database, which is a child of the account; the ID nests through databaseAccounts/<account>/sqlDatabases/<database>/containers/<name> and the account uses the Microsoft.DocumentDB namespace.
• The account and the SQL database import separately as azurerm_cosmosdb_account and azurerm_cosmosdb_sql_database.
• The partition key path and partition_key_version are immutable; changing them forces recreation.
• throughput and autoscale_settings are mutually exclusive, and throughput set on the parent database cannot also be set here.

Doing it manually with terraform import

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