Stop squinting at Terraform plan output! Transform cryptic terminal text into beautiful, professional PDF reports in seconds.
You're about to apply a critical infrastructure change...
- ❌ Staring at 500+ lines of terminal output
- ❌ Scrolling endlessly to find that one resource change
- ❌ Your manager asks: "What exactly is changing?" and you scramble to copy-paste text
- ❌ No clear way to review, share, or archive what's about to happen
- ❌ Can't easily spot dangerous destroys buried in the noise
- ❌ Wasting 30+ minutes manually documenting changes for approval
Sound familiar? You're not alone. Every DevOps engineer has been there.
✨ The Solution: One-Click Beautiful Reports
This VS Code extension transforms your Terraform plan chaos into crystal-clear, professional PDF reports that:
- ✅ Highlight critical changes with color-coded actions (create ➕, modify 🔄, destroy ❌)
- ✅ Organize everything in clean tables and sections
- ✅ Export instantly to PDF for sharing with stakeholders
- ✅ Work 100% offline - no external dependencies, no API calls
- ✅ Save you hours of manual documentation every week
🎯 Why You NEED This Extension
For DevOps Engineers
- 📋 Stop manually documenting - Generate change reports in 2 seconds
- 👀 Spot dangerous changes instantly - Destroys are highlighted
- 🚀 Speed up reviews - Clear, scannable format vs terminal soup
- 📊 Track history - Archive reports for compliance and audits
For Team Leads
- 👥 Approve changes confidently - See exactly what's changing without Terraform expertise
- 📈 Improve team productivity - Eliminate back-and-forth questions
- 🔒 Reduce risk - Better visibility = fewer production incidents
For Organizations
- 📝 Meet compliance requirements - Documented change records for every deployment
- 💰 Save money - Reduce time spent on change reviews by 80%
- 🎓 Onboard faster - New team members understand changes easily
🚀 Quick Start (30 seconds!)
- Install this extension from VS Code Marketplace
- Generate a Terraform plan:
terraform plan -out=plan.tfplan && terraform show -no-color plan.tfplan > plan.txt
- Open
plan.txt in VS Code
- Right-click → Select
Terraform: Generate Plan Report
- Done! Your beautiful PDF report is ready 🎉
📸 What You Get
Before: Terminal Chaos
Terraform will perform the following actions:
# aws_instance.web will be created
+ resource "aws_instance" "web" {
+ ami = "ami-0c55b159cbfafe1f0"
+ arn = (known after apply)
+ associate_public_ip_address = (known after apply)
...
[200+ more lines of hard-to-read text]
After: Professional Report
📊 TERRAFORM PLAN REPORT
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
📈 SUMMARY
┌─────────────────────┬───────┐
│ Resources to Add │ 5 │
│ Resources to Change │ 2 │
│ Resources to Destroy│ 0 │
└─────────────────────┴───────┘
� CRITICAL ACTIONS
None - Safe to proceed ✓
➕ RESOURCES TO CREATE
1. aws_instance.web
Type: EC2 Instance
Changes: Initial creation...
🛠️ Installation
Option 1: From VS Code Marketplace (Recommended)
- Open VS Code
- Press
Ctrl+Shift+X (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+Shift+X (Mac)
- Search for "Terraform Report Generator"
- Click Install
- Reload VS Code
Option 2: From VSIX File
code --install-extension terraform-report-generator-1.0.0.vsix
Option 3: Manual Installation
- Download
.vsix file from GitHub Releases
- In VS Code:
Extensions → ... menu → Install from VSIX
- Select downloaded file
🎬 How to Use
- Generate your Terraform plan file:
terraform plan -out=plan.tfplan
terraform show -no-color plan.tfplan > plan.txt
- Right-click on
plan.txt in VS Code
- Select "Terraform: Generate Plan Report"
- Report opens automatically! ✨
Method 2: Command Palette
- Open your plan file in VS Code
- Press
Ctrl+Shift+P (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+Shift+P (Mac)
- Type "Terraform: Generate Plan Report"
- Press Enter
Method 3: Keyboard Shortcut
- Open plan file
- Press
Ctrl+Alt+T (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+Alt+T (Mac)
- Instant report!
📚 Available Commands
| Command |
Description |
When to Use |
Terraform: Generate Plan Report |
Auto-detect best mode |
Default choice - Let the extension decide |
Terraform: Generate Basic Report |
Fast, offline mode |
Quick reviews, no AI needed |
Terraform: Generate AI Report |
Enhanced analysis |
Complex changes, need insights |
🎨 Report Features
Basic Mode (Lightning Fast ⚡)
Terraform Plan → Parser → Markdown → PDF
↓
- Extract changes
- List resources
- Show attributes
- Color-coded actions
Result: Clean report in 2 seconds
✅ Perfect for:
- Daily routine changes
- Simple infrastructure updates
- Quick peer reviews
- CI/CD pipeline documentation
AI-Enhanced Mode (Coming Soon 🚀)
Terraform Plan → Parser → AI Analysis → Rich Report → PDF
↓
- Impact assessment
- Risk classification
- Testing recommendations
- Rollback procedures
Result: Comprehensive analysis in 30 seconds
✅ Perfect for:
- Production deployments
- Complex multi-resource changes
- Security-critical updates
- Stakeholder presentations
⚙️ Configuration
Customize the extension to fit your workflow:
{
// Report generation mode
"terraformReport.mode": "auto", // "auto" | "basic" | "ai"
// Default export format
"terraformReport.defaultExport": "pdf", // "pdf" | "markdown" | "both"
// Auto-open report after generation
"terraformReport.openAfterGenerate": true,
// Report template style
"terraformReport.templateStyle": "professional" // "professional" | "minimal" | "detailed"
}
Configuration Options Explained
| Setting |
Values |
Description |
mode |
auto, basic, ai |
How to generate reports (auto detects complexity) |
defaultExport |
pdf, markdown, both |
Output format preference |
openAfterGenerate |
true, false |
Automatically open report when done |
templateStyle |
professional, minimal, detailed |
Report styling |
Access Settings
File → Preferences → Settings (or Ctrl+,)- Search for "Terraform Report"
- Adjust settings to your preference
💰 Pricing
🎉 100% FREE Forever!
- ✅ Unlimited basic reports
- ✅ PDF and Markdown export
- ✅ All core features
- ✅ No credit card required
- ✅ No usage limits
- ✅ Open source (MIT License)
No hidden costs. No subscriptions. Completely free.
🚀 Future AI Features (Optional - Coming Soon)
When we release AI-enhanced analysis:
- 🆓 10 AI reports per month (free tier)
- 💎 Unlimited AI reports with your own OpenAI API key
- 🏢 Enterprise options for custom integrations
Current version is 100% free with no limitations!
🎯 Real-World Use Cases
1️⃣ Pre-Deployment Review
# Generate plan and report before applying
terraform plan -out=plan.tfplan
terraform show -no-color plan.tfplan > plan.txt
# Generate report in VS Code
# Review → Approve → Apply
terraform apply plan.tfplan
2️⃣ Change Request Documentation
- Generate report from your plan
- Attach PDF to Jira/ServiceNow ticket
- Stakeholders review without Terraform knowledge
- Track approved changes for compliance
3️⃣ Team Code Reviews
- Include report in pull request
- Reviewers see infrastructure impact immediately
- Faster approvals, fewer questions
- Better collaboration
4️⃣ Production Safety Check
- Quickly scan for
destroy operations
- Verify resource counts match expectations
- Archive report for post-deployment audit
- Sleep better at night! 😴
�️ Roadmap - What's Coming Next
Version 1.1 (Next Month)
- 🤖 AI-Powered Analysis - Intelligent impact assessment and recommendations
- 📊 Enhanced PDF Styling - More templates and customization
- 🔍 Plan Comparison - Compare two plans side-by-side
- 📈 Drift Detection - Highlight unexpected changes
Version 1.2 (Q1 2026)
- 📋 Change History - Track and archive all your deployments
- 🎨 Custom Templates - Create your own report layouts
- 🔗 CI/CD Integration - GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Azure DevOps
- 📊 Dashboard View - Web-based report viewer
Version 2.0 (Q2 2026)
- 🧠 Advanced AI Features - Risk scoring, dependency analysis
- 👥 Team Collaboration - Share and comment on reports
- 📱 Mobile App - Review plans on the go
- 🔒 Enterprise Security - SSO, RBAC, audit logs
Want a feature? Request it here!
🤝 Contributing
We welcome contributions from the community! Here's how you can help:
- 🐛 Report bugs - Found an issue? Let us know!
- 💡 Suggest features - Have an idea? We want to hear it!
- 📝 Improve docs - Help make our documentation better
- 💻 Submit PRs - Code contributions are always welcome
See CONTRIBUTING.md for detailed guidelines.
🐛 Troubleshooting
Report generation fails
Solution: Ensure PowerShell is installed and accessible:
pwsh.exe --version
PDF not generated
Solution: Check that your plan file is valid Terraform output:
terraform show -no-color plan.tfplan > plan.txt
Extension not appearing
Solution: Reload VS Code after installation:
- Press
Ctrl+Shift+P
- Type "Reload Window"
- Press Enter
Still having issues? Open an issue with:
- VS Code version
- Extension version
- Error message (if any)
- Sample plan file (sanitized)
📜 License
MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.
TL;DR: Free to use, modify, and distribute. No restrictions!
🙏 Acknowledgments
- 🎯 Built for DevOps Engineers who spend too much time reading Terraform output
- 💡 Inspired by real pain - We've all been there!
- 🌟 Powered by the community - Your feedback makes this better
- ❤️ Open source forever - Because great tools should be free
⭐ Show Your Support
If this extension saves you time, please:
- ⭐ Star the repo on GitHub
- ✍️ Write a review on VS Code Marketplace
- 🐦 Share it with your team and on social media
- ☕ Buy us a coffee (link coming soon!)
