Terraform state is a file that maps real-world resources to your configuration, tracks metadata, and enables Terraform to determine what changes need to be applied to reach the desired state.
When Terraform creates or modifies resources, it records the mapping between configuration and real-world resources in a state file. This file is essential for Terraform to know what it manages and to calculate the difference between desired and actual state.
By default, state is stored locally in terraform.tfstate. For team use, state should be stored in a remote backend like S3 with DynamoDB locking.
State drift occurs when real infrastructure changes outside of Terraform (manual console changes, other tools). Regular terraform plan runs detect drift by comparing state against actual infrastructure. Automated drift detection pipelines can alert teams to unauthorized changes before they cause issues.
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