How to Import an Google Project IAM Binding into Terraform

Import Google Project IAM Binding with Terraback (recommended)

Terraback reverse-engineers your live infrastructure: it reads the Google Cloud IAM resource with read-only credentials, generates the HCL, and produces the exact import block. Two commands take you from a live Google Project IAM Binding 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_project_iam_binding.editors
  id = "my-project roles/editor"
}

Example google_project_iam_binding configuration

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

resource "google_project_iam_binding" "editors" {
  project = "my-project"
  role    = "roles/editor"
  members = [
    "user:jane@example.com",
    "serviceAccount:ci@my-project.iam.gserviceaccount.com",
  ]
}

Gotchas when importing a Google Project IAM Binding

• An iam_binding is authoritative for the role across the whole project: applying it removes every member of that role not listed in members, which can lock people out.
• Use google_project_iam_member for additive, per-member grants when other tools or admins also manage project IAM.
• Never make a binding authoritative for sensitive roles like roles/owner unless you are certain the members list is complete.
• The import ID is just the project ID and the role joined by a space; the members are read from the live policy, not the ID.

Doing it manually with terraform import

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