terraform-docs VS HomeBrew

Documentation is really important, so having a README.md file inside your Terraform repository that explains how to use the automation (including descriptions of variables and outputs) really help in understanding what has been implemented. To easily generate the description of variables and outputs, you can leverage tfdocs.

‍Terraform-docs is a tool that automatically generates documentation from Terraform modules in various output formats, including markdown, JSON, and others. It's particularly useful for maintaining up-to-date documentation of your Terraform modules' inputs, outputs, providers, and resources.

Earlier this year I wrote about the challenges I faced creating a Terraform module. I mentioned then that I was leveraging terraform-docs and GitHub Actions to automate documentation, but a full workflow walkthrough was out of that post's scope.

### Muti-Stage pipeline for windows trigger: - main variables: terraformDocsVersion: '0.16.0' serviceConnectionName: 'Terraform-SPN-DevOps-MagiconionM' keyvaultName: 'pwd9000-core-kv' pool: vmImage: 'windows-latest' stages: - stage: GenerateTerraformDocumentation jobs: - job: Generate_Terraform_Documentation steps: - checkout: self persistCredentials: true # this allows the later scripts to use the system-provided git token to push changes back to the repo ### Link to key vault. - task: AzureKeyVault@1 inputs: azureSubscription: $(serviceConnectionName) #ADO service connection (Service principal) KeyVaultName: $(keyvaultName) SecretsFilter: 'TerraformDocsPAToken' RunAsPreJob: true displayName: Get PAToken from Keyvault ### Install Terraform-Docs. - powershell: | Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "https://github.com/terraform-docs/terraform-docs/releases/download/v$(terraformDocsVersion)/terraform-docs-v$(terraformDocsVersion)-windows-amd64.zip" -OutFile "terraform-docs.zip" Expand-Archive -Path "terraform-docs.zip" -DestinationPath "$(System.DefaultWorkingDirectory)\terraform-docs" -Force $env:Path += ";$(System.DefaultWorkingDirectory)\terraform-docs" displayName: 'Install terraform-docs' ### Remove all old README.md files and generate new README.md files for each TF module. - powershell: | # Set Modules Root Directory Set-Location "$(Build.SourcesDirectory)\@TF_Modules" # Get all subdirectories (Terraform module directories) $terraformModuleDirs = Get-ChildItem -Path (Get-Location) -Directory # Loop through each directory to cleanup/remove old README files foreach ($dir in $terraformModuleDirs) { # Get all files in the directory $readMeFiles = Get-ChildItem -Path $dir.FullName -Filter 'README.md' # Loop through each file in each terraform module foreach ($file in $readMeFiles) { # Check if README file already exists and remove if ($file) { # Remove the file Remove-Item $file.FullName -Confirm:$false Write-Output "Old file '$($file.Name)' removed from '$($dir.FullName)'" } } #After cleanup create a new README.md file with 'terraform-docs' based on latest TF module code in current folder(terraform module) $tfFiles = Get-ChildItem -Path $dir.FullName -Filter *.tf if ($tfFiles.Count -gt 0) { # Create new README.md file $(System.DefaultWorkingDirectory)\terraform-docs\terraform-docs.exe markdown table $dir.FullName --output-file "README.md" } else { Write-Output "No .tf files found." } } displayName: 'Cleanup and Generate new README for each TF module' ### Commit and push updated README.md files for TF modules. - powershell: | git config --local user.email "[email protected]" git config --local user.name "Terraform Docs" git add *.md git commit -m "Update README.md for each TF module" git push origin HEAD:$(Build.SourceBranchName) displayName: 'Commit and Push updated README.md files for TF modules' env: SYSTEM_ACCESSTOKEN: $(TerraformDocsPAToken)

I'm going to have to figure out how to run terraform-docs.io against each module. I have zero terraform experience.

Terraform-docs: This tool generates documentation for your Terraform modules in various formats, such as Markdown, HTML, and JSON. Terraform-docs parses your Terraform code and extracts documentation from comments, variable and output descriptions, and input/output examples. The tool then generates a table of contents with links to the relevant documentation for each module, which makes it easy to understand the purpose and usage of each module.

Terraform docs

I have been using https://terraform-docs.io to generate documentation of my terraform modules. However creating nested objects with optionals makes the documentation rather ugly and hard to read. See gh issue which also describes this type of issue: https://github.com/terraform-docs/terraform-docs/issues/656

I am looking for a way to automate doc creation and updates for ansible roles. I recently discovered terraform-docs and I am curious if there is something similar for ansible.

terraform-docs: https://github.com/terraform-docs/terraform-docs

Do you have other Terraform-related open-source tools that you recommend? Please go ahead and add in the comments!

Before we start installing anything, if you are a Mac user, you need to install homebrew, a package manager for Mac that will help you install software quickly and easily from this article.

First, we are going to need Node.js. I use nodenv to manage multiple Node.js installations on my machine. The easiest way to install it on a Mac is to use Homebrew (check their Installation documentation if you’re on a different platform):

Homebrew - The Missing Package Manager for macOS (or Linux)

Homebrew is a highly popular package manager on macOS and Linux systems, enabling users to easily install, update, and uninstall command-line tools and applications. Its design philosophy focuses on simplifying the software installation process on macOS, eliminating the need for manual downloads and compilations of software packages.

Homebrew - package manager for linux-based OSs.

Package Manager: Homebrew

Hopping from one distro to another with a different package manager might require some time to adapt. Using a package manager that can be installed on most distro is one way to help you get to work faster. Flatpak is one of them; other alternative are Snap, Nix or Homebrew. Flatpak is a good starter, and if you have a bunch of free time, I suggest trying Nix.

Are you using SQLite that ships with macOS, or SQLite installed from homebrew?

I had a different problem in the past with the SQLite that ships with macOS, and have been using SQLite from homebrew since.

So if it’s the one that comes with macOS that gives you this problem that you are having, try using SQLite from homebrew instead.

https://brew.sh/

Before we begin, make sure you have Homebrew installed on your Mac. Homebrew is a package manager that makes it easy to install software and dependencies. You can install Homebrew by following the instructions on their website: https://brew.sh/

I’m on MacOS and erlang.org, elixir-lang.org, and postgresql.org all suggest installation via Homebrew, which is a very popular package manager for MacOS.