How to Import an Google Cloud SQL Instance into Terraform

Import Google Cloud SQL Instance with Terraback (recommended)

Terraback reverse-engineers your live infrastructure: it reads the Google Cloud SQL resource with read-only credentials, generates the HCL, and produces the exact import block. Two commands take you from a live Google Cloud SQL Instance 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_sql_database_instance.prod
  id = "projects/my-project/instances/prod-postgres"
}

Example google_sql_database_instance configuration

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

resource "google_sql_database_instance" "prod" {
  name             = "prod-postgres"
  database_version = "POSTGRES_16"
  region           = "us-central1"

  settings {
    tier = "db-custom-2-7680"
  }

  deletion_protection = true
}

Gotchas when importing a Google Cloud SQL Instance

• Instance names cannot be reused for up to a week after deletion, so avoid destroy/recreate during testing.
• deletion_protection defaults to true in the provider; set it false before Terraform can destroy the instance.
• Databases and users inside the instance are separate google_sql_database and google_sql_user resources.
• The root password is not returned on import; manage it explicitly.

Doing it manually with terraform import

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