Starting every Terraform project by hand is repetitive and makes it easy for teams to forget a tool or configure it differently. A software template solves that problem by keeping shared boilerplate in a repository that can be copied into each new project. GitHub Template Repositories support this directly. section 7.2.1
A copied repository still needs project-specific edits, such as its name. When those edits multiply, Cookiecutter can ask for values and generate files conditionally. For a Terraform module, the chosen provider can determine which TFLint plugin appears in the generated configuration. section 7.2.1
Listing 7.2 Calling Cookiecutter with terraform-module-cookiecutter
$ cookiecutter gh:TerraformInDepth/terraform-module-cookiecutter #1
[1/6] name (): terraform-aws-test-module #2
[2/6] Select license
1 - All Rights Reserved
2 - MIT license
3 - BSD license
4 - Apache Software License 2.0
5 - GNU General Public License v3
Choose from [1/2/3/4/5] (1):
[3/6] author (): Robert Hafner
[4/6] primary_provider (hashicorp/aws):
[5/6] provider_min_version (5.0):
[6/6] private_registry_url (): #3
$ ls -1a terraform-aws-test-module #4
.
..
.checkov.yml
.github
.gitignore
.opentofu-version
.pre-commit-config.yml
.terraform-docs.yml
.terraform-version
.tflint.hcl
LICENSE
README.md
main.tf
makefile
outputs.tf
providers.tf
variables.tf
The Cookiecutter invocation prompts for a module name, license, provider, minimum provider version, and registry URL, then creates a project containing Terraform files and tooling configuration. section 7.2.1
Put reusable CI workflows in the template as well. A GitHub Actions workflow can run TFLint through `make test_tflint` on pushes and pull requests. This works across modules that share the expected makefile; failed tests are visible on the pull request and can block it. section 7.7.2
Listing 7.40 TFLint on GitHub Actions
name: Lint
on: #1
push:
pull_request:
jobs:
tflint:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- name: Checkout source code #2
uses: actions/checkout@v4 #3
- name: Setup TFLint
uses: terraform-linters/setup-tflint@v4 #4
- name: Run TFLint
run: make test_tflint #5
This workflow checks out the repository, sets up TFLint, and calls the makefile target—the pieces a new module needs to inherit together. section 7.7.2
Adapting a provider template
A provider starter repository may not use Cookiecutter, so cloning it requires manual cleanup. Read its README and check the supported Go and Terraform versions. Replace organization-specific ownership and conduct files, update Dependabot configuration, remove the template maintainer’s internal file, and revise the README. Rename the Go module with `go mod edit -module github.com/YOUR_ORGANIZATION/terraform-provider-YOUR_SERVICE_NAME`, run `go mod tidy`, and update `main.go` so `go generate` uses the new name. section 12.2.1
