How to Import an Google BigQuery Table into Terraform

Import Google BigQuery Table with Terraback (recommended)

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

terraback scan all gcp --project my-gcp-project

terraback gcp 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 = google_bigquery_table.events
  id = "projects/my-project/datasets/analytics/tables/events"
}

Example google_bigquery_table configuration

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

resource "google_bigquery_table" "events" {
  dataset_id          = "analytics"
  table_id            = "events"
  project             = "my-project"
  deletion_protection = true

  time_partitioning {
    type  = "DAY"
    field = "event_time"
  }
}

Gotchas when importing a Google BigQuery Table

• The import ID is the three-part datasets/.../tables/... path; the parent dataset must already exist in the config.
• deletion_protection defaults to true in the provider and blocks destroy until you set it false.
• The schema imports as a JSON string; reformatting or reordering columns produces a noisy diff, so paste the exact schema.
• Views are stored as a query in the same resource; an external table or materialized view may need extra attributes that do not round-trip on import.

Doing it manually with terraform import

The native approach is to write the google_bigquery_table block by hand, then run terraform import google_bigquery_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 Google Cloud resources