Refactor Terraform Code Structure for Better Maintainability

[jsandov]

Current State

All configuration is in main.tf, mixing concerns:

• Backend configuration
• Provider settings
• Local variables
• Module configurations
• Outputs

Proposed File Structure

environments/staging/
├── backend.tf      # S3 backend configuration
├── providers.tf    # AWS provider configurations
├── locals.tf       # Environment-specific variables
├── variables.tf    # Input variables if needed
├── main.tf        # Module instantiation only
└── outputs.tf     # Output definitions

Migration Steps

1. Move backend configuration to backend.tf
2. Separate provider configurations into providers.tf
3. Extract locals into locals.tf
4. Move outputs to outputs.tf
5. Keep only module instantiation in main.tf

Benefits

• Better organization
• Easier maintenance
• Consistent with Terraform best practices
• Improved readability
• Easier git diff tracking

Implementation Example

# backend.tf
terraform {
  backend "s3" {
    bucket         = "jdnguyen-terraform-state"
    key            = "staging/terraform.tfstate"
    region         = "us-east-1"
    dynamodb_table = "terraform-state-locks"
    encrypt        = true
  }
}