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Synopsis

List the identities of resources in the state

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Usage

terraform [global options] state identities [options] -json [address...]

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Description

The terraform state identities command lists the JSON format of the identities of resources in the Terraform state. Resource identities provide additional metadata about resources beyond their standard attributes. This command outputs the identity information for resource instances in JSON format. You can optionally filter the results by providing resource or module addresses. If no addresses are provided, identities for all resource instances in the state are listed.

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Positional Arguments

  • address... - Optional resource or module addresses to filter results. Multiple addresses can be specified.

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Options

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-json
boolean
required
Produce JSON output. This flag is required for the command to execute.Default: false
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-state
string
Path to a Terraform state file to use to look up Terraform-managed resources. By default, Terraform will consult the state of the currently-selected workspace.Example: -state=terraform.tfstate
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-id
string
Filters the results to include only instances whose resource types have an attribute named “id” whose value equals the given id string.Example: -id=i-1234567890abcdef0

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Address Formats

The addresses must be either module addresses or absolute resource addresses:
  • aws_instance.example - A specific resource
  • module.example - All resources in a module
  • module.example.module.child - All resources in a nested module
  • module.example.aws_instance.example - A specific resource in a module

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Behavior

  • If a resource exists but has no identity JSON, it will be skipped (identities are optional)
  • An error will be returned if any specified filter addresses do not exist in the state
  • If the state file is not found, an error is returned
  • This is a read-only command that does not modify state

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Exit Codes

  • 0 - Success
  • 1 - Error occurred (missing -json flag, state loading errors, parsing errors, or invalid addresses)

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Examples

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List all resource identities

terraform state identities -json
Example output: 
{
  "aws_instance.web": {
    "instance_id": "i-1234567890abcdef0",
    "availability_zone": "us-east-1a"
  },
  "aws_db_instance.database": {
    "db_instance_identifier": "mydb-instance",
    "region": "us-east-1"
  }
}

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List identities for a specific resource

terraform state identities -json aws_instance.web
Example output: 
{
  "aws_instance.web": {
    "instance_id": "i-1234567890abcdef0",
    "availability_zone": "us-east-1a"
  }
}

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List identities for all resources in a module

terraform state identities -json module.vpc
This returns identities for all resources within the vpc module.

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Filter by resource ID

terraform state identities -json -id=i-1234567890abcdef0
Returns only the identities of resources whose ID attribute matches the specified value.

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Use a specific state file

terraform state identities -json -state=prod.tfstate
Reads identities from the prod.tfstate file instead of the current workspace state.

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List identities for multiple resources

terraform state identities -json aws_instance.web aws_instance.app
Returns identities for both specified resources.

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Error when -json flag is missing

terraform state identities
This produces an error: 
The `terraform state identities` command requires the `-json` flag.

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Notes

  • This command ignores remote version conflicts since it is read-only
  • Empty output ({}) indicates no resources have identity information or no resources matched the filter criteria
  • Resource identities are provider-specific and may not be present for all resource types

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