Refactor the Terraform Script — Restoring Balance

Source: Dev.to

Problem with Manual LocalStack Configuration

When using Terraform with LocalStack, many developers add a lot of provider settings that are only needed for the local environment, such as custom endpoints and flags like skip_credentials_validation. These settings increase maintenance overhead and make the Terraform code diverge from the configuration used in a real AWS environment.

Solution: Use the tflocal Wrapper

LocalStack provides a wrapper (tflocal) that lets you run Terraform against LocalStack without embedding LocalStack‑specific settings in your .tf files. By using tflocal, the Terraform configuration stays clean and mirrors real AWS usage.

Benefits

• Cleaner code – No need for conditional endpoints or validation flags.
• Easier maintenance – The same files work both locally and in production.
• Simplified workflow – LocalStack details are handled at runtime, not in the code.

Example Provider Configuration (No LocalStack Overrides)

provider "aws" {
  profile = "localstack"
  region  = "us-east-1"

  default_tags {
    tags = {
      Environment = "tutorial"
      Project     = "terraform-configure-providers"
    }
  }
}

Note: The profile and region values can be adjusted for your environment. No endpoint overrides or skip_* flags are required.

Running Terraform with tflocal

Initialize the working directory

tflocal init

Apply the configuration

tflocal apply

These commands automatically configure Terraform to communicate with LocalStack, keeping your .tf files free of environment‑specific tweaks.