github.com/kcburge/terraform@v0.11.12-beta1/website/guides/terraform-provider-development-program.html.md (about) 1 --- 2 layout: "guides" 3 page_title: "Terraform Provider Development Program" 4 sidebar_current: "guides-terraform-provider-development-program" 5 description: This guide is intended for vendors who're interested in having their platform supported by Teraform. The guide walks vendors through the steps involved in creating a provider and applying for it to be included with Terraform. 6 --- 7 8 # Terraform Provider Development Program 9 10 The Terraform Provider Development Program allows vendors to build 11 Terraform providers that are officially approved and tested by HashiCorp and 12 listed on the official Terraform website. The program is intended to be largely 13 self-serve, with links to information sources, clearly defined steps, and 14 checkpoints. 15 16 -> **Building your own provider?** If you're building your own provider and 17 aren't interested in having HashiCorp officially approve and regularly test the 18 provider, refer to the [Writing Custom Providers guide][writing] and the 19 [Extending Terraform][extending] section. 20 21 ## What is a Terraform Provider? 22 23 Terraform is used to create, manage, and manipulate infrastructure resources. 24 Examples of resources include physical machines, VMs, network switches, containers, etc. 25 Almost any infrastructure noun can be represented as a resource in Terraform. 26 27 A provider is responsible for understanding API interactions with the underlying 28 infrastructure like a cloud (AWS, GCP, Azure), a PaaS service (Heroku), a SaaS 29 service (DNSimple, CloudFlare), or on-prem resources (vSphere). It then exposes 30 these as resources users can code to. Terraform presently supports more than 31 70 providers, a number that has more than doubled in the past 12 months. 32 33 All providers integrate into and operate with Terraform exactly the same way. 34 The table below is intended to help users understand who develops, maintains 35 and tests a particular provider. 36 37  38 39 -> **Note:** This document is primarily intended for the "HashiCorp/Vendors" row in 40 the table above. Community contributors who’re interested in contributing to 41 existing providers or building new providers should refer to the 42 [Writing Custom Providers guide](/guides/writing-custom-terraform-providers.html). 43 44 ## Provider Development Process 45 46 The provider development process is divided into six steps below. By following 47 these steps, providers can be developed alongside HashiCorp to ensure new 48 providers are able to be published in Terraform as quickly as possible. 49 50  51 52 1. **Engage**: Initial contact between vendor and HashiCorp 53 2. **Enable**: Information and articles to aid with the provider development 54 3. **Dev/Test**: Provider development and test process 55 4. **Review**: HashiCorp code review and acceptance tests (iterative process) 56 5. **Release**: Provider availability and listing on [terraform.io](https://www.terraform.io) 57 6. **Support**: Ongoing maintenance and support of the provider by the vendor. 58 59 ### 1. Engage 60 61 Please begin by providing some basic information about the provider that 62 is being built via a simple [webform](https://goo.gl/forms/iqfz6H9UK91X9LQp2). 63 64 This information is captured upfront and used by HashiCorp to track the 65 provider through various stages. The information is also used to notify the 66 provider developer of any overlapping work, perhaps coming from the community. 67 68 Terraform has a large and active community and ecosystem of partners that 69 may have already started working on the same provider. We'll do our best to 70 connect similar parties to avoid duplicate work. 71 72 ### 2. Enable 73 74 We’ve found the provider development to be fairly straightforward and simple 75 when vendors pay close attention and follow to the resources below. Adopting 76 the same structure and coding patterns helps expedite the review and release cycles. 77 78 * Writing custom providers [guide](https://www.terraform.io/guides/writing-custom-terraform-providers.html) 79 * How-to build a provider [video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BvpqmFpchI) 80 * Sample provider developed by [partner](http://container-solutions.com/write-terraform-provider-part-1/) 81 * Example providers for reference: [AWS](https://github.com/terraform-providers/terraform-provider-aws), [OPC](https://github.com/terraform-providers/terraform-provider-opc) 82 * Contributing to Terraform [guidelines](https://github.com/hashicorp/terraform/blob/master/.github/CONTRIBUTING.md) 83 * Gitter HashiCorp-Terraform [room](https://gitter.im/hashicorp-terraform/Lobby). 84 85 ### 3. Development & Test 86 87 Terraform providers are written in the [Go](https://golang.org/) programming 88 language. The 89 [Writing Custom Providers guide](/guides/writing-custom-terraform-providers.html) 90 is a good resource for developers to begin writing a new provider. 91 92 The best approach to building a new provider is to be familiar with both the 93 [Writing Custom Providers][writing] guide and [Extending Terraform][extending] 94 section. The guide will give you an introduction in code structure and the 95 basics of authoring a plugin that Terraform can interact with. The Extending 96 Terraform section contains guides, best practices, and API reference for 97 developers writing Terraform plugins. Additionally developers are encouraged to 98 use the [AWS 99 provider](https://github.com/terraform-providers/terraform-provider-aws) as an 100 implementation reference. Given the wide surface area of this provider, almost 101 all resource types and preferred code constructs are covered in it. 102 103 It is recommended for vendors to first develop support for one or two resources 104 and go through an initial review cycle before developing the code for the 105 remaining resources. This helps catch any issues early on in the process and 106 avoids errors from getting multiplied. In addition, it is advised to follow 107 existing conventions you see in the codebase, and ensure your code is formatted 108 with `go fmt`. 109 110 The provider code should include an acceptance test suite with tests for each 111 individual resource that holistically tests its behavior. 112 The Writing Acceptance Tests section in the 113 [Contributing to Terraform](https://github.com/hashicorp/terraform/blob/master/.github/CONTRIBUTING.md) 114 document explains how to approach these. It is recommended to randomize the 115 names of the tests as opposed to using unique static names, as that permits us 116 to parallelize the test execution. 117 118 Each provider has a section in the Terraform documentation. You'll want to add 119 new index file and individual pages for each resource supported by the provider. 120 121 While developing the provider code yourself is certainly possible, you can also 122 choose to leverage one of the following development agencies who’ve developed 123 Terraform providers in the past and are familiar with the requirements and process. 124 125 | Partner | Email | Website | 126 |--------------------|:-----------------------------|:---------------------| 127 | Crest Data Systems | malhar@crestdatasys.com | www.crestdatasys.com | 128 | DigitalOnUs | hashicorp@digitalonus.com | www.digitalonus.com | 129 | MustWin | bd@mustwin.com | www.mustwin.com | 130 | OpenCredo | hashicorp@opencredo.com | www.opencredo.com | 131 132 ### 4. Review 133 134 During the review process, HashiCorp will provide feedback on the newly 135 developed provider. **Please engage in the review process once one or two 136 sample resources have been developed.** Begin the process by emailing 137 <terraform-provider-dev@hashicorp.com> with a URL to the public GitHub repo 138 containing the code. 139 140 HashiCorp will then review the resource code, acceptance tests, and the 141 documentation. When all the feedback has been addressed, support for the 142 remaining resources can continue to be developed, along with the corresponding 143 acceptance tests and documentation. 144 145 The vendor is encouraged to send HashiCorp 146 a rough list of resource names that are planned to be worked on along with the 147 mapping to the underlying APIs, if possible. This information can be provided 148 via the [webform](https://goo.gl/forms/iqfz6H9UK91X9LQp2). It is preferred that 149 the additional resources be developed and submitted as individual PRs in GitHub 150 as that simplifies the review process. 151 152 Once the provider has been completed another email should be sent to 153 <terraform-provider-dev@hashicorp.com> along with a URL to the public GitHub repo 154 containing the code requesting the final code review. HashiCorp will review the 155 code and provide feedback about any changes that may be required. This is often 156 an iterative process and can take some time to get done. 157 158 The vendor is also required to provide access credentials for the infrastructure 159 (cloud or other) that is managed by the provider. Please encrypt the credentials 160 using our public GPG key published at keybase.io/terraform (you can use the form 161 at https://keybase.io/encrypt#terraform) and paste the encrypted message into 162 the [webform](https://goo.gl/forms/iqfz6H9UK91X9LQp2). Please do NOT enter 163 plain-text credentials. These credentials are used during the review phase, 164 as well as to test the provider as part of the regular testing HashiCorp conducts. 165 166 -> 167 **NOTE:** It is strongly recommended to develop support for just one or two resources first and go through the review cycle before developing support for all the remaining resources. This approach helps catch any code construct issues early, and avoids the problem from multiplying across other resources. In addition, one of the common gaps is often the lack of a complete set of acceptance tests, which results in wasted time. It is recommended that you make an extra pass through the provider code and ensure that each resource has an acceptance test associated with it. 168 169 ### 5. Release 170 171 At this stage, it is expected that the provider is fully developed, all tests 172 and documentation are in place,the acceptance tests are all passing, and that 173 HashiCorp has reviewed the provider. 174 175 HashiCorp will create a new GitHub repo under the terraform-providers GitHub 176 organization for the new provider (example: `terraform-providers/terraform-provider-NAME`) 177 and grant the owner of the original provider code write access to the new repo. 178 A GitHub Pull Request should be created against this new repo with the provider 179 code that had been reviewed in step-4 above. Once this is done HashiCorp will 180 review and merge the PR, and get the new provider listed on 181 [terraform.io](https://www.terraform.io). This is also when the provider 182 acceptance tests are added to the HashiCorp test harness (TeamCity) and tested 183 at regular intervals. 184 185 Vendors whose providers are listed on terraform.io are permitted to use the 186 [HashiCorp Tested logo](/assets/images/docs/hashicorp-tested-icon.png) for their provider. 187 188 ### 6. Support 189 190 Many vendors view the release step to be the end of the journey, while at 191 HashiCorp we view it to be the start. Getting the provider built is just the 192 first step in enabling users to use it against the infrastructure. Once this is 193 done on-going effort is required to maintain the provider and address any 194 issues in a timely manner. 195 196 The expectation is to resolve all critical issues within 48 hours and all other 197 issues within 5 business days. HashiCorp Terraform has as extremely wide 198 community of users and contributors and we encourage everyone to report issues 199 however small, as well as help resolve them when possible. 200 201 Vendors who choose to not support their provider and prefer to make it a 202 community supported provider will not be listed on terraform.io. 203 204 ## Checklist 205 206 Below is an ordered checklist of steps that should be followed during the 207 provider development process. This just reiterates the steps already documented 208 in the section above. 209 210 * Fill out provider development program engagement [webform](https://goo.gl/forms/iqfz6H9UK91X9LQp2) 211 212 * Refer to the example providers and model the new provider based on that 213 214 * Create the new provider with one or two sample resources along with acceptance tests and documentation 215 216 * Send email to <terraform-provider-dev@hashicorp.com> to schedule an initial review 217 218 * Address review feedback and develop support for the other resources 219 220 * Send email to <terraform-provider-dev@hashicorp.com> along with a pointer to the public GitHub repo containing the final code 221 222 * Provide HashiCorp with credentials for underlying infrastructure managed by the new provider via the [webform](https://goo.gl/forms/iqfz6H9UK91X9LQp2) 223 224 * Address all review feedback, ensure that each resource has a corresponding acceptance test, and the documentation is complete 225 226 * Create a PR for the provider against the HashiCorp provided empty repo. 227 228 * Plan to continue supporting the provider with additional functionality as well as addressing any open issues. 229 230 ## Contact Us 231 232 For any questions or feedback please contact us at <terraform-provider-dev@hashicorp.com>. 233 234 [writing]: /guides/writing-custom-terraform-providers.html 235 [extending]: /docs/extend/index.html 236