Question 1

What is Terraform and why do I need a plan explainer?

Accepted Answer

Terraform is an Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tool that manages cloud resources declaratively. A plan explainer helps you understand what changes Terraform will make before applying them, reducing the risk of production incidents, security issues, and unexpected infrastructure changes.

Question 2

What formats does this tool support?

Accepted Answer

This tool supports both text format (output from "terraform plan" command) and JSON format (from "terraform show -json plan.tfplan"). Simply paste your plan output and the tool will auto-detect the format and parse it accordingly.

Question 3

How accurate is the risk scoring?

Accepted Answer

Risk scores are calculated based on multiple factors: resource type (databases, VPCs, security groups are higher risk), action type (delete/replace are riskier than update/create), security implications, and environment detection. Scores are a guide to help prioritize review, not an absolute measure.

Question 4

Does this tool modify my Terraform plan or state?

Accepted Answer

No. This tool only reads and analyzes plans. It never modifies plans, state files, or infrastructure. All processing is done client-side in your browser for maximum security.

Question 5

What is "blast radius" in Terraform?

Accepted Answer

Blast radius refers to the potential scope of impact from a change. It includes directly affected resources and downstream dependencies. A high blast radius means many resources could be affected by the change, increasing the risk of widespread issues.

Question 6

What security issues does this tool detect?

Accepted Answer

The tool checks for common security concerns including: public exposure (security groups opening 0.0.0.0/0 access), S3 buckets with public ACLs, database instances made publicly accessible, encryption changes, IAM privilege escalations, and network security issues.

Terraform Plan Explainer

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