How to Import an Google Cloud Firestore Database into Terraform

Import Google Cloud Firestore Database with Terraback (recommended)

Terraback reverse-engineers your live infrastructure: it reads the Firestore resource with read-only credentials, generates the HCL, and produces the exact import block. Two commands take you from a live Google Cloud Firestore Database 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_firestore_database.default
  id = "projects/my-project/databases/(default)"
}

Example google_firestore_database configuration

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

resource "google_firestore_database" "default" {
  name        = "(default)"
  location_id = "nam5"
  type        = "FIRESTORE_NATIVE"
}

Gotchas when importing a Google Cloud Firestore Database

• The primary database is literally named (default), parentheses included; additional databases use plain names.
• location_id and type (FIRESTORE_NATIVE vs DATASTORE_MODE) are immutable; a mismatch forces a destroy that is destructive to data.
• Firestore indexes and TTL fields are separate google_firestore_index and google_firestore_field resources.
• A project can hold only one (default) database, and Native vs Datastore mode is chosen once for that database.

Doing it manually with terraform import

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