Filters Configuration

Filter modules using include and exclude patterns.

Options

exclude

Type: string[]Default: []

Glob patterns for modules to exclude.

exclude:
  - "*/test/*"
  - "*/sandbox/*"
  - "*/.terraform/*"

include

Type: string[]Default: [] (all modules)

Glob patterns for modules to include. If empty, all modules are included (after excludes).

include:
  - "platform/*/*/*"
  - "analytics/*/*/*"

Pattern Syntax

TerraCi uses glob patterns with these special characters:

Pattern	Matches
*	Any characters except /
**	Any characters including / (any depth)
?	Single character
[abc]	Character class
[!abc]	Negated character class

Examples

Exclude Test Modules

exclude:
  - "*/test/*"
  - "*/tests/*"
  - "*-test/*/*/*"

Exclude Specific Environment

exclude:
  - "*/sandbox/*"
  - "*/development/*"

Exclude Specific Region

exclude:
  - "*/*/eu-north-1/*"

Only Production

include:
  - "*/production/*/*"

Only Specific Service

include:
  - "platform/*/*/*"

Exclude Submodules

exclude:
  - "*/*/*/*/*"  # Exclude depth 5

Only Submodules

include:
  - "*/*/*/*/*"  # Include only depth 5

CLI Overrides

Override filters from command line:

# Add excludes
terraci generate --exclude "*/test/*" --exclude "*/sandbox/*"

# Add includes
terraci generate --include "platform/*/*/*"

# Filter by field
terraci generate --service platform
terraci generate --environment production
terraci generate --region us-east-1

Filter Order

Filters are applied in this order:

1. Discovery - Find all modules at correct depth
2. Exclude - Remove modules matching exclude patterns
3. Include - If set, keep only modules matching include patterns
4. CLI Filters - Apply service/environment/region filters

Field-Based Filters

Filter by module fields via CLI:

# By service
terraci generate --service platform

# By environment
terraci generate --environment production

# By region
terraci generate --region us-east-1

# Combined
terraci generate --service platform --environment production --region us-east-1

Combining Filters

Filters can be combined:

exclude:
  - "*/sandbox/*"
  - "*/test/*"

include:
  - "platform/*/*/*"
  - "analytics/*/*/*"

This:

1. Excludes all sandbox and test modules
2. Then includes only platform and analytics modules

Use Cases

Production Pipeline

exclude:
  - "*/sandbox/*"
  - "*/test/*"
  - "*/development/*"

include:
  - "*/production/*/*"

Regional Deployment

Generate pipeline for specific region:

terraci generate --region us-east-1

Or in config:

include:
  - "*/*/us-east-1/*"

Service-Specific Pipeline

terraci generate --service platform

Exclude Specific Modules

exclude:
  - "platform/production/us-east-1/legacy-vpc"
  - "analytics/*/*/deprecated-*"

Debugging Filters

See which modules are included:

terraci validate -v

Output:

Discovered 20 modules
After exclude patterns: 15 modules
After include patterns: 10 modules
Final module count: 10

Modules:
  - platform/production/us-east-1/vpc
  - platform/production/us-east-1/eks
  ...

Wildcards in Paths

Single Level (*)

include:
  - "platform/*/us-east-1/*"  # Any environment, only us-east-1

Matches:

• platform/production/us-east-1/vpc
• platform/staging/us-east-1/vpc

Multi-Level (**)

include:
  - "platform/**"  # All platform modules at any depth

Matches:

• platform/production/us-east-1/vpc
• platform/production/us-east-1/ec2/rabbitmq

Library Modules

Library modules (also called shared modules) are reusable Terraform modules that don't have their own providers or remote state - they are used by executable modules via the module block.

Configuration

library_modules:
  paths:
    - "_modules"
    - "shared/modules"

How It Works

When you configure library_modules.paths, TerraCi:

1. Parses module blocks in executable modules to find local module calls (source = "../_modules/kafka")
2. Tracks library dependencies in the dependency graph
3. Detects library changes when using --changed-only mode
4. Includes affected modules when a library module is modified

Example Structure

terraform/
├── _modules/               # Library modules
│   ├── kafka/              # Reusable Kafka configuration
│   │   └── main.tf
│   └── kafka_acl/          # Kafka ACL module (depends on kafka)
│       └── main.tf
├── platform/
│   └── production/
│       └── eu-north-1/
│           └── msk/        # Executable module using _modules/kafka
│               └── main.tf

In platform/production/eu-north-1/msk/main.tf:

module "kafka" {
  source = "../../../../_modules/kafka"
  # ...
}

module "kafka_acl" {
  source = "../../../../_modules/kafka_acl"
  # ...
}

Change Detection

When you modify _modules/kafka/main.tf:

terraci generate --changed-only

TerraCi will include platform/production/eu-north-1/msk in the pipeline because it uses the kafka library module.

Transitive Dependencies

If kafka_acl library module uses kafka module internally, and you modify kafka, all modules using kafka_acl will also be detected as affected.

Verbose Output

Use verbose mode to see library module detection:

terraci generate --changed-only -v

Output:

Changed library modules: 1
  - /project/_modules/kafka
Affected modules (including dependents): 3
  - platform/production/eu-north-1/msk
  - platform/production/eu-north-1/streaming
  - platform/production/eu-west-1/msk

Example

See the library-modules example for a complete working example.