21 Terraform Best Practices
You're Probably Still Ignoring

The Terraform (and OpenTofu) landscape changed dramatically in 2025–2026. Most teams are still using 2023-era patterns while the pros have moved to new tools and features.

1–7: Foundations & Code Organization

01

Pin every provider version explicitly

Never use ~> or >= in production. 2026 providers break fast.

terraform {
required_providers {
aws = {
source = "hashicorp/aws"
version = "5.82.0" # pinned
}
}
}
Prevents surprise upgrades in CI
02

Use for_each instead of count (every single time)

Count is dead. for_each gives stable indexing and works perfectly with maps and sets.

Still seeing count in 2026? You're losing hours during refactors.
03

Write-only attributes for secrets (new 2026 feature)

Use write_only = true on sensitive blocks so they never touch state.

04

Every reusable piece belongs in its own module

If you copy-paste more than twice, extract it. Monolithic main.tf files are career limiting in 2026.

05

Semantic versioning for modules

Always tag and use registry. Never point to main branch.

06

Use dynamic blocks everywhere possible

No more duplicated security group rules.

07

terraform validate + tflint in every PR

Make it mandatory in GitHub Actions.

8–14: Scaling & Architecture (Terramate & Atmos era)

Adopt Terramate or Atmos for monorepos

Stop managing 400+ tiny terraform directories manually. Stacks + orchestration changed everything in 2026.

09

Remote backends with state locking is mandatory

S3 + DynamoDB or Spacelift. Local state in prod = instant job risk.

10

Use terraform state mv during refactors

11

Enable state encryption at rest (KMS)

12

Automated drift detection (weekly)

13

terraform import everything that already exists

14

Never commit .tfstate files again

15–18: Security & Compliance

15

Shift-left scanning (Checkov + tfsec) on every PR

16

Use OIDC federation — no more long-lived AWS keys

17

Policy as Code with OPA or Sentinel

18

Automatic tagging strategy (null-label or built-in)

19–21: 2026 Future-Proof Practices

19

Review every AI-generated Terraform snippet

LLMs still hallucinate invalid providers and missing depends_on in 2026. Always run plan + validate.

20

Use Terramate Stacks + Atmos for complex orgs

The new standard for 50+ environments.

21

Write tests for every module (terraform test)

Native testing is finally mature in 2026.