Terraform State Show Command

When something looks off in Terraform (unexpected diffs, confusing plans, drift-y resources), the fastest way to regain clarity is to inspect what Terraform currently has recorded for a specific resource. That’s exactly what terraform state show is for: it prints the attributes of a single resource as stored in state, so you can validate IDs, computed fields, and configuration outcomes without guessing.

In the full guide, we cover:

• What terraform state show does (and how it differs from terraform show)
• How to target resources precisely, including module addresses and indexed resources
• Practical debugging workflows: verifying real attributes, tracking down drift, and understanding “mystery” changes
• Common gotchas (quoting/escaping resource addresses, sensitive values, and remote state scenarios)

➡️ Read the full article on our blog:

https://spacelift.io/blog/terraform-state-show