"Because life's too short to read entire Terraform plans!"
tftldr is your new best friend for making sense of those ridiculously verbose Terraform plan JSON files.
Ever stared at a Terraform plan that's longer than a fantasy novel? Ever wished you could just get the CliffsNotes version? Say no more! tftldr transforms that wall of JSON into a beautiful, color-coded table that even your project manager could understand.
- Turns intimidating JSON blobs into friendly tables
- Color codes changes (green for creations, yellow for updates, red for deletions)
- Summarizes what's actually changing without the fluff
- Filters out noise from utility resources like random providers and null resources
- Export to CSV for ITIL change tickets and documentation
Ok seriously though, there are a few terraform plan summary tools out there, but they focus on the terraform resource rather than the actual deployed resource. This is fine for those cattle scenarios, but in my experience theres still a lot of pets out there that need to be cared for. This tool is designed for Day2 operations when change management needs to be appeased before you can run your pipeline.
go install github.com/thecomalley/tftldr@latestDownload the latest release for your platform from the Releases page.
Available platforms:
- Linux (amd64, arm64)
- macOS (amd64, arm64)
- Windows (amd64, arm64)
Extract the archive and move the binary to a location in your PATH.
Generate a Terraform plan JSON file using:
terraform plan -out=tfplan.out
terraform show -json tfplan.out > tfplan.jsonRun against your default tfplan.json file:
tftldrOr specify a different plan file:
tftldr -input path/to/your/plan.jsonExport to CSV for ITIL change tickets:
tftldr -csv changes.csvYou can combine multiple flags:
tftldr -input plan.json -config custom-config.yml -csv changes.csvBy default, tftldr ignores certain resource types:
- Resource types with prefixes:
random_,time_ - Exact resource types:
terraform_data,null_resource
You can create a .tftldr.yml file in your project directory to specify which resource types to ignore and which columns to display.
# .tftldr.yml
ignore:
# Resource types with these prefixes will be ignored
prefixes:
- "random_"
- "time_"
- "azurerm_role_"
# These exact resource types will be ignored
types:
- "terraform_data"
- "null_resource"
- "azurerm_key_vault_secret"
# Column visibility settings
columns:
changeType: true # Show the change type (create, update, delete)
resourceName: true # Show the resource name
changedParams: true # Show parameters that have changed
resourceType: true # Show the resource type
resourceAddress: false # Hide the resource addressThis allows you to:
- Skip noisy resources like random providers and null resources
- Customize which resource types to ignore based on your needs
- Share configuration across multiple projects
This project is licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for details.
This project uses GoReleaser to automate releases.
- Ensure all changes are committed and pushed
- Create and push a new tag:
git tag -a v1.0.0 -m "Release v1.0.0" git push origin v1.0.0 - GitHub Actions will automatically build and publish the release
The release workflow will:
- Build binaries for multiple platforms (Linux, macOS, Windows)
- Create archives and checksums
- Generate a changelog
- Publish the release to GitHub
To test the release process locally without publishing:
goreleaser release --snapshot --cleanThis will create release artifacts in the dist/ directory.
This tool is designed to help you understand Terraform plans better, but it does not replace the need to review the plan in detail. Always read the Terraform plan output despite what a humorous README might suggest.