Evidence record · captured 2026-10-11

Terraform Style Guide

Makes the agent generate and review Terraform HCL to HashiCorp's published style guide: provider and version constraints first, data sources before dependents, resources in dependency order, standard file layout and naming, formatting and variable/output conventions.

Official publisherUnverifiedSource reviewedBehavior not tested

Source review

Editorial assessment

This is a source-only assessment. It does not claim runtime or security testing.

What it does

Makes the agent write HCL to HashiCorp's published conventions: a fixed file layout, type and description on every variable, for_each over count, explicit version pins. A bundled SECURITY.md adds encryption defaults and ephemeral handling of secrets.

Best for

Generating a new Terraform root module in a consistent file layout
Reviewing a pull request against a concrete style and security checklist
Choosing how to keep secrets out of state on Terraform 1.11 or later

Strengths in the source

Specifies which declarations go in terraform.tf, providers.tf, main.tf, variables.tf, outputs.tf and locals.tf.
Ends with a review checklist and tells the agent to run terraform fmt -recursive and terraform validate before committing.
SECURITY.md sets a priority order for sensitive attributes, starting with native secrets-manager integration, and checks for Terraform 1.11+ before using ephemeral resources.
Lists what never to commit (state, .terraform/, plans, sensitive tfvars) and requires committing .terraform.lock.hcl.

Limitations

Examples are AWS-only, so provider-specific security patterns for other clouds must come from elsewhere.
Tells the agent to use the latest provider major and Terraform minor versions, which can conflict with an existing codebase's pins.
Style guidance only: it does not cover state backends, workspaces or module publishing.

When not to use it

Codebases with an established house style that differs from HashiCorp's conventions.
Writing .tftest.hcl test files, which the separate terraform-test skill covers.

Reviewed by Retenta editorial on 2026-10-11; scope: source only.

Files included in this review

plugins/terraform/skills/terraform-style-guide/SKILL.md

Evidence and boundaries

Execution · not tested

Retenta has not executed this skill.

Security · not tested

The skill folder bundles no executable scripts. Retenta has not run a security scan.

Pinned publisher source: plugins/terraform/skills/terraform-style-guide/SKILL.md
Revision: f706481af9b8fedb66de909f6243ad29601afa0c
License evidence: MPL-2.0Retenta preserves the license text captured with this immutable upstream snapshot; no independent legal or security review is claimed.
Last source change: 2026-08-10
Independent verification: Published by HashiCorp, but not independently verified by a third-party reviewer.
Upstream repository: Open publisher repository