How to Import an Azure Key Vault Key into Terraform

Import Azure Key Vault Key with Terraback (recommended)

Terraback reverse-engineers your live infrastructure: it reads the Azure Security resource with read-only credentials, generates the HCL, and produces the exact import block. Two commands take you from a live Azure Key Vault Key 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_key_vault_key.encryption
  id = "https://prod-kv.vault.azure.net/keys/data-encryption/fdf067c93bbb4b22bff4d8b7a9a56217"
}

Example azurerm_key_vault_key configuration

Here is a realistic Azure Key Vault Key block. Terraback generates a fuller version from your actual resource attributes; this is a minimal, valid starting point.

resource "azurerm_key_vault_key" "encryption" {
  name         = "data-encryption"
  key_vault_id = azurerm_key_vault.app.id
  key_type     = "RSA"
  key_size     = 2048
  key_opts     = ["decrypt", "encrypt", "sign", "unwrapKey", "verify", "wrapKey"]
}

Gotchas when importing a Azure Key Vault Key

• Like secrets, the import ID is the data-plane URL (https://<vault>.vault.azure.net/keys/<name>/<version>), not an ARM resource ID.
• The private key material never leaves the vault and cannot be read back; only metadata and public components are returned.
• key_size applies to RSA keys; EC keys use the curve argument instead and the two are mutually exclusive.
• key_opts must match the operations actually permitted on the key or Terraform will show a diff.

Doing it manually with terraform import

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