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1 – Initialize Terraform

This tutorial shows you how to get started with Terraform. You just signed up your domain (example.com) on Cloudflare to manage everything in Terraform and now you will create a DNS record pointing www.example.com to a web server at 203.0.113.10.

Before you begin, ensure you have:

1. Create your configuration

Create a file named main.tf, filling in your own values for the API token, zone ID, account ID, and domain:

Terminal window
terraform {
required_providers {
cloudflare = {
source = "cloudflare/cloudflare"
version = "~> 5"
}
}
}
provider "cloudflare" {
api_token = "<YOUR_API_TOKEN>"
}
variable "zone_id" {
default = "<YOUR_ZONE_ID>"
}
variable "account_id" {
default = "<YOUR_ACCOUNT_ID>"
}
variable "domain" {
default = "<YOUR_DOMAIN>"
}
resource "cloudflare_dns_record" "www" {
zone_id = "<YOUR_ZONE_ID>"
name = "www"
content = "203.0.113.10"
type = "A"
ttl = 1
proxied = true
comment = "Domain verification record"
}

2. Initialize and plan

Initialize Terraform to download the Cloudflare provider:

Terminal window
terraform init

Review what will be created:

Terminal window
terraform plan
Terraform used the selected providers to generate the following execution plan. Resource actions are
indicated with the following symbols:
+ create
Terraform will perform the following actions:
# cloudflare_dns_record.www will be created
+ resource "cloudflare_dns_record" "www" {
+ comment = "Domain verification record"
+ comment_modified_on = (known after apply)
+ content = "203.0.113.10"
+ created_on = (known after apply)
+ id = (known after apply)
+ meta = (known after apply)
+ modified_on = (known after apply)
+ name = "www"
+ proxiable = (known after apply)
+ proxied = true
+ settings = (known after apply)
+ tags = (known after apply)
+ tags_modified_on = (known after apply)
+ ttl = 1
+ type = "A"
+ zone_id = "<YOUR_ZONE_ID>"
}
Plan: 1 to add, 0 to change, 0 to destroy.

3. Apply and verify

Apply your configuration:

Terminal window
terraform apply

Type yes when prompted.

Terraform used the selected providers to generate the following execution plan. Resource actions are
indicated with the following symbols:
+ create
Terraform will perform the following actions:
# cloudflare_dns_record.www will be created
+ resource "cloudflare_dns_record" "www" {
+ comment = "Domain verification record"
+ comment_modified_on = (known after apply)
+ content = "203.0.113.10"
+ created_on = (known after apply)
+ id = (known after apply)
+ meta = (known after apply)
+ modified_on = (known after apply)
+ name = "www"
+ proxiable = (known after apply)
+ proxied = true
+ settings = (known after apply)
+ tags = (known after apply)
+ tags_modified_on = (known after apply)
+ ttl = 1
+ type = "A"
+ zone_id = "<YOUR_ZONE_ID>"
}
Plan: 1 to add, 0 to change, 0 to destroy.
Do you want to perform these actions?
Terraform will perform the actions described above.
Only 'yes' will be accepted to approve.
Enter a value: yes
cloudflare_dns_record.www: Creating...
cloudflare_dns_record.www: Creation complete after 0s
Apply complete! Resources: 1 added, 0 changed, 0 destroyed.

After creation, verify the DNS record:

Terminal window
dig www.example.com

Test the web server response:

Terminal window
curl https://www.example.com
Hello, this is 203.0.113.10!

To see the full results returned from the API call:

Terminal window
terraform show

You can also check the Cloudflare dashboard and go to DNS > Records.