A complete reference architecture demonstrating Terragrunt best practices for managing multi-account AWS infrastructure with Terraform.
Terragrunt Reference Architecture is a complete example implementation showing how to structure and manage multi-environment AWS infrastructure using Terragrunt and Terraform. It solves the problem of maintaining DRY, scalable infrastructure configurations across separate AWS accounts and environments.
DevOps engineers, infrastructure teams, and cloud architects who are implementing or scaling Terraform-based infrastructure with Terragrunt in AWS environments.
Developers choose this reference architecture because it provides battle-tested patterns for organizing complex infrastructure, demonstrates Terragrunt best practices, and offers a ready-to-use template that reduces configuration complexity and maintenance overhead.
Terragrunt Reference Architecture (upd: May 2020)
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Demonstrates clear separation with dedicated AWS accounts for production, staging, and master, enhancing security and isolation as outlined in the environments section.
Uses Terragrunt to dynamically update inputs and share configurations across layers, minimizing code duplication through shared terragrunt.hcl files.
Breaks down infrastructure into independent layers (VPC, ALB, autoscaling) managed as Terraform modules, promoting scalability and reuse as described in the layered approach.
Includes pre-commit hooks for Terraform formatting and documentation, enforcing consistency and reducing manual errors in the codebase.
Relies on Terraform 0.12 and Terragrunt 0.22, which are outdated and may lack support for newer features, security patches, or compatibility with current AWS services.
Requires installation of multiple tools (Terraform, Terragrunt, pre-commit, direnv) and configuration, increasing initial setup time and potential for errors.
Tailored specifically for AWS with Terraform AWS modules, making it unsuitable for multi-cloud strategies or other providers without significant rework.
Presumes familiarity with Terragrunt's orchestration and Terraform modules, which can be a steep learning curve for teams new to these tools.