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Alex Spinov
Alex Spinov

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Terraform CDK Has a Free API: Build Infrastructure with TypeScript, Not HCL

#terraform #typescript #devops #infrastructure

Why Terraform CDK Changes Everything

If you have ever struggled with HCL syntax in Terraform, CDK for Terraform (CDKTF) lets you define infrastructure using TypeScript, Python, Java, C#, or Go — languages you already know.

The game-changer: You get full IDE support, type checking, and the entire npm/pip ecosystem while still using Terraform providers.

Quick Start 

npm install -g cdktf-cli
cdktf init --template=typescript
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Define Infrastructure in TypeScript 

import { App, TerraformStack } from "cdktf";
import { AwsProvider } from "@cdktf/provider-aws/lib/provider";
import { S3Bucket } from "@cdktf/provider-aws/lib/s3-bucket";

class MyStack extends TerraformStack {
  constructor(scope: App, id: string) {
    super(scope, id);
    new AwsProvider(this, "aws", { region: "us-east-1" });
    new S3Bucket(this, "bucket", {
      bucket: "my-cdktf-bucket",
      tags: { Environment: "dev" },
    });
  }
}

const app = new App();
new MyStack(app, "my-stack");
app.synth();
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Key Benefits

  • Type safety — catch errors before terraform apply
  • Loops and conditions — real programming constructs, not HCL workarounds
  • Code reuse — share infrastructure as npm packages
  • Testing — unit test your infrastructure with Jest
  • All Terraform providers — AWS, GCP, Azure, Kubernetes, and 3,000+ more

Testing Infrastructure 

import { Testing } from "cdktf";
import { MyStack } from "./main";

test("should create S3 bucket", () => {
  const app = Testing.app();
  const stack = new MyStack(app, "test");
  const synth = Testing.synth(stack);
  expect(synth).toHaveResource("aws_s3_bucket");
});
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Convert Existing HCL to CDKTF 

cdktf convert --file main.tf --language typescript
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This converts your existing Terraform configs to TypeScript automatically.

CDKTF vs Raw Terraform

Feature HCL CDKTF
Type checking Limited Full IDE support
Loops for_each, count Native for/map/filter
Testing terraform validate Jest, pytest
Code sharing Modules npm/pip packages
Learning curve New syntax Your existing language

Resources

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