How to Import an Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) Cluster into Terraform

Import Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) Cluster with Terraback (recommended)

Terraback reverse-engineers your live infrastructure: it reads the Google Kubernetes Engine resource with read-only credentials, generates the HCL, and produces the exact import block. Two commands take you from a live Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) Cluster 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_container_cluster.prod
  id = "projects/my-project/locations/us-central1/clusters/prod-gke"
}

Example google_container_cluster configuration

Here is a realistic Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) Cluster block. Terraback generates a fuller version from your actual resource attributes; this is a minimal, valid starting point.

resource "google_container_cluster" "prod" {
  name     = "prod-gke"
  location = "us-central1"

  remove_default_node_pool = true
  initial_node_count       = 1
}

Gotchas when importing a Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) Cluster

• Importing the cluster does not import its node pools; manage those as separate google_container_node_pool resources.
• The common pattern is remove_default_node_pool = true plus a separate node pool; importing a cluster that still has the default pool needs care.
• location can be a zone (zonal cluster) or a region (regional cluster); use the exact value from the path.
• Many cluster fields force recreation, so review the plan carefully before the first apply.

Doing it manually with terraform import

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