1 – Initialize Terraform

Last updated May 5, 2026 This tutorial shows you how to get started with Terraform. You just signed up your domain (example.com) on Cloudflare to manage everything in Terraform and now you will create a DNS record pointing www.example.com to a web server at 203.0.113.10.

Before you begin, ensure you have:

• Installed Terraform
• Created an API Token with permissions to edit resources for this tutorial

Note

Terraform code snippets below refer to the v5 SDK only.

1. Create your configuration

Create a file named main.tf, filling in your own values for the API token, zone ID, account ID, and domain:

terraform {
  required_providers {
    cloudflare = {
      source  = "cloudflare/cloudflare"
      version = "~> 5"
    }
  }
}

provider "cloudflare" {
  api_token = "<YOUR_API_TOKEN>"
}

variable "zone_id" {
  default = "<YOUR_ZONE_ID>"
}

variable "account_id" {
  default = "<YOUR_ACCOUNT_ID>"
}

variable "domain" {
  default = "<YOUR_DOMAIN>"
}

resource "cloudflare_dns_record" "www" {
  zone_id = "<YOUR_ZONE_ID>"
  name    = "www"
  content = "203.0.113.10"
  type    = "A"
  ttl     = 1
  proxied = true
  comment = "Domain verification record"
}

Caution

To prevent accidentally exposing your Cloudflare credentials, do not save this file in your version control system. The next tutorial will cover best practices for passing in your API token.

2. Initialize and plan

Initialize Terraform to download the Cloudflare provider:

terraform init

Review what will be created:

terraform plan

Terraform used the selected providers to generate the following execution plan. Resource actions are
indicated with the following symbols:
  + create

Terraform will perform the following actions:

  # cloudflare_dns_record.www will be created
  + resource "cloudflare_dns_record" "www" {
      + comment             = "Domain verification record"
      + comment_modified_on = (known after apply)
      + content             = "203.0.113.10"
      + created_on          = (known after apply)
      + id                  = (known after apply)
      + meta                = (known after apply)
      + modified_on         = (known after apply)
      + name                = "www"
      + proxiable           = (known after apply)
      + proxied             = true
      + settings            = (known after apply)
      + tags                = (known after apply)
      + tags_modified_on    = (known after apply)
      + ttl                 = 1
      + type                = "A"
      + zone_id             = "<YOUR_ZONE_ID>"
    }

Plan: 1 to add, 0 to change, 0 to destroy.

3. Apply and verify

Apply your configuration:

terraform apply

Type yes when prompted.

Terraform used the selected providers to generate the following execution plan. Resource actions are
indicated with the following symbols:
  + create

Terraform will perform the following actions:

  # cloudflare_dns_record.www will be created
  + resource "cloudflare_dns_record" "www" {
      + comment             = "Domain verification record"
      + comment_modified_on = (known after apply)
      + content             = "203.0.113.10"
      + created_on          = (known after apply)
      + id                  = (known after apply)
      + meta                = (known after apply)
      + modified_on         = (known after apply)
      + name                = "www"
      + proxiable           = (known after apply)
      + proxied             = true
      + settings            = (known after apply)
      + tags                = (known after apply)
      + tags_modified_on    = (known after apply)
      + ttl                 = 1
      + type                = "A"
      + zone_id             = "<YOUR_ZONE_ID>"
    }

Plan: 1 to add, 0 to change, 0 to destroy.

Do you want to perform these actions?
  Terraform will perform the actions described above.
  Only 'yes' will be accepted to approve.

  Enter a value: yes

cloudflare_dns_record.www: Creating...
cloudflare_dns_record.www: Creation complete after 0s

Apply complete! Resources: 1 added, 0 changed, 0 destroyed.

After creation, verify the DNS record:

dig www.example.com

Test the web server response:

curl https://www.example.com

Hello, this is 203.0.113.10!

To see the full results returned from the API call:

terraform show

You can also check the Cloudflare dashboard and go to the DNS > Records page.

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description: Sometimes, you may have to roll back configuration changes. To revert your configuration, check out the desired branch and ask Terraform to move your Cloudflare settings back in time. title: 6 – Revert configuration image: https://developers.cloudflare.com/terraform/tutorial/revert-configuration/og.png?v=2c6bc8961610285e

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