Deploy Github code using Terraform and Github Actions: working example

In your repository, create the following files

# .github/workflows/terraform.yml

name: 'Terraform'

on:
  push:
    branches: [ "main" ]

permissions:
  contents: read

jobs:
  terraform:
    name: 'Terraform deploy ...'
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    environment: production
    defaults:
      run:
        shell: bash
    steps:
    - name: Checkout
      uses: actions/checkout@v3
    - name: Setup Terraform
      uses: hashicorp/setup-terraform@v1
    - name: Terraform Init
      run: terraform init
    - name: Terraform Format
      run: terraform fmt -check
    - name: Terraform Plan
      run: terraform plan -var="region=${{ secrets.AWS_REGION }}" -var="access_key=${{ secrets.AWS_ACCESS_KEY }}" -var="secret_key=${{ secrets.AWS_SECRET_KEY }}"
    - name: Terraform Apply
      # if: github.ref == 'refs/heads/"main"' && github.event_name == 'push'
      run: terraform apply -auto-approve -var="region=${{ secrets.AWS_REGION }}" -var="access_key=${{ secrets.AWS_ACCESS_KEY }}" -var="secret_key=${{ secrets.AWS_SECRET_KEY }}"

# terraform.tf

terraform {
  required_providers {
    aws = {
      source  = "hashicorp/aws"
      version = "~> 4.0.0"
    }
    # ... more there
  
  required_version = "~> 1.0"
}

variable "region" {
  type = string
}
variable "access_key" {
  type = string
}
variable "secret_key" {
  type = string
}

provider "aws" {
  region     = var.region
  access_key = var.access_key
  secret_key = var.secret_key
}

# ... add resources to create here

Repository settings -> Secrets and variables

Those are needed by the terraform command expecting variables in the environment

At every push, you’ll see the following in the “Actions tab”