terraform-best-practices-mcp

MrFixit96/terraform-best-practices-mcp

3.2

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The Terraform Best Practices MCP server provides AI assistants with access to Terraform best practices, module structure recommendations, code pattern templates, and validation tools.

Tools

  1. GetBestPractices

    Retrieves best practices for a specified topic, category, and provider.

  2. GetModuleStructure

    Provides standardized module structures for specified types and providers.

  3. GetPatternTemplate

    Fetches code templates for common infrastructure components based on specified criteria.

  4. ValidateConfiguration

    Validates Terraform configurations against best practices.

  5. SuggestImprovements

    Suggests improvements for given Terraform configurations.

Terraform Best Practices MCP Server

This Model Context Protocol (MCP) server exposes Terraform best practices, module structure recommendations, code pattern templates, and validation tools to AI assistants.

Overview

The Terraform Best Practices MCP server provides AI assistants with access to:

  1. Best Practices Documentation: HashiCorp's Terraform best practices for code structure and organization
  2. Module Structure Guidelines: Standardized module structure recommendations for different use cases
  3. Pattern Library: Reusable code pattern templates that follow best practices
  4. Validation Engine: Tools to validate Terraform configurations against best practices

Features

1. Best Practices Documentation

Provides access to Terraform best practices on:

  • Module structure and organization
  • Variable and output documentation
  • Resource naming conventions
  • Security best practices
  • Tagging strategies
  • Version pinning

2. Module Structure Guidelines

Offers standardized module structures for:

  • Basic Terraform modules
  • AWS-specific modules
  • Azure-specific modules
  • GCP-specific modules

3. Pattern Library

Provides code templates for common infrastructure components:

  • AWS VPC with public and private subnets
  • EC2 web server with security groups
  • Azure Virtual Network
  • GCP VPC
  • Standard Terraform module structure

4. Validation Engine

Validates Terraform configurations against best practices:

  • File structure validation
  • Naming convention checks
  • Security best practices validation
  • Documentation completeness checks
  • Module usage validation
  • Resource organization validation

Installation

Prerequisites

  • Go 1.17 or later
  • Git

Platform-Specific Setup Instructions

Windows (PowerShell 7)

  1. Install Prerequisites with Windows Package Manager (winget)

    Install Go:

    # Install Go using winget
winget install GoLang.Go

# Verify installation
go version

    Install Git:

    # Install Git using winget
winget install Git.Git

# Verify installation
git --version

    Alternative using Scoop package manager:

    # Install Scoop if not already installed
if (-not (Get-Command scoop -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue)) {
  Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope CurrentUser
  Invoke-RestMethod -Uri https://get.scoop.sh | Invoke-Expression
}

# Install Go and Git using Scoop
scoop install go git

# Verify installations
go version
git --version

  2. Clone and Build

    # Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/MrFixit96/terraform-best-practices-mcp.git
cd terraform-best-practices-mcp

# Build the binary
go build -o terraform-mcp-server.exe .\cmd\terraform-mcp-server

  3. Run the Server

    # Start the server on port 8080
.\terraform-mcp-server.exe -addr :8080

# With custom data directory
.\terraform-mcp-server.exe -addr :8080 -data-dir .\my-data

# With debug logging
.\terraform-mcp-server.exe -addr :8080 -log-level debug
macOS

  1. Install Prerequisites

    Install Go:

    # Use Homebrew
brew install go

# Verify installation
go version

    Install Git:

    # Use Homebrew
brew install git

# Verify installation
git --version

  2. Clone and Build

    # Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/MrFixit96/terraform-best-practices-mcp.git
cd terraform-best-practices-mcp

# Build the binary
go build -o terraform-mcp-server ./cmd/terraform-mcp-server

  3. Run the Server

    # Start the server on port 8080
./terraform-mcp-server -addr :8080

# With custom data directory
./terraform-mcp-server -addr :8080 -data-dir ./my-data

# With debug logging
./terraform-mcp-server -addr :8080 -log-level debug
Linux (Bash)

  1. Install Prerequisites

    Install Go:

    # Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt update
sudo apt install golang-go

# RHEL/CentOS/Fedora
sudo dnf install golang

# Verify installation
go version

    Install Git:

    # Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt update
sudo apt install git

# RHEL/CentOS/Fedora
sudo dnf install git

# Verify installation
git --version

  2. Clone and Build

    # Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/MrFixit96/terraform-best-practices-mcp.git
cd terraform-best-practices-mcp

# Build the binary
go build -o terraform-mcp-server ./cmd/terraform-mcp-server

  3. Run the Server

    # Start the server on port 8080
./terraform-mcp-server -addr :8080

# With custom data directory
./terraform-mcp-server -addr :8080 -data-dir ./my-data

# With debug logging
./terraform-mcp-server -addr :8080 -log-level debug

# Run as a background service
nohup ./terraform-mcp-server -addr :8080 > terraform-mcp.log 2>&1 &

Docker Installation

# Build the Docker image
docker build -t terraform-mcp-server .

# Run the Docker container
docker run -p 8080:8080 terraform-mcp-server

# With custom configuration
docker run -p 8080:8080 -e LOG_LEVEL=debug terraform-mcp-server

Usage

Command-line Options

  • -addr: Server address (default: :8080)
  • -data-dir: Data directory for documentation and patterns (default: ./data)
  • -log-level: Log level (debug, info, error) (default: info)
  • -update-interval: Update interval for documentation (default: 24h)
  • -authority-sources: Comma-separated list of authority sources for Terraform documentation (default: built-in list)

Integration with AI Assistants

1. Claude Desktop Integration

Claude Desktop supports MCP servers through its configuration file:

  1. Start the server: ./terraform-mcp-server -addr :8080
  2. Configure Claude Desktop:
    • Open Settings ā†’ Developer ā†’ Edit Config
    • Add the following to your configuration:
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "terraform-best-practices": {
      "command": "/path/to/terraform-mcp-server",
      "args": ["-addr", ":8080", "-log-level", "info"]
    }
  }
}
2. VS Code Integration

Visual Studio Code supports MCP servers through GitHub Copilot's Agent mode:

  1. Create or edit .vscode/mcp.json in your workspace:
{
  "servers": {
    "terraform-best-practices": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "/path/to/terraform-mcp-server",
      "args": ["-log-level", "info"]
    }
  }
}

MCP Tools Provided

The server provides these tools to AI assistants:

1. GetBestPractices

{
  "topic": "module",
  "category": "structure",
  "provider": "aws",
  "keywords": ["organization", "structure"]
}

2. GetModuleStructure

{
  "type": "basic",
  "provider": "aws"
}

3. GetPatternTemplate

{
  "id": "aws-vpc-basic",
  "category": "networking",
  "provider": "aws",
  "complexity": "basic",
  "tags": ["vpc", "networking"],
  "query": "vpc"
}

4. ValidateConfiguration

{
  "files": {
    "main.tf": "resource \"aws_instance\" \"example\" { ... }",
    "variables.tf": "variable \"name\" { ... }"
  }
}

5. SuggestImprovements

{
  "files": {
    "main.tf": "resource \"aws_instance\" \"example\" { ... }",
    "variables.tf": "variable \"name\" { ... }"
  }
}

Development

Project Structure

terraform-mcp-server/
ā”œā”€ā”€ cmd/
ā”‚   ā””ā”€ā”€ terraform-mcp-server/ # Main application entry point
ā”œā”€ā”€ pkg/
ā”‚   ā”œā”€ā”€ hashicorp/           # HashiCorp-specific components
ā”‚   ā”‚   ā”œā”€ā”€ tfdocs/          # Documentation and validation
ā”‚   ā”‚   ā”‚   ā”œā”€ā”€ indexer.go   # Documentation indexer
ā”‚   ā”‚   ā”‚   ā”œā”€ā”€ patterns.go  # Code pattern templates
ā”‚   ā”‚   ā”‚   ā”œā”€ā”€ validation.go # Validation engine
ā”‚   ā”‚   ā”‚   ā””ā”€ā”€ resource_provider.go # Resource provider
ā”‚   ā”‚   ā”œā”€ā”€ server.go        # Server implementation
ā”‚   ā”‚   ā””ā”€ā”€ tools.go         # MCP tool implementations
ā”‚   ā””ā”€ā”€ mcp/                 # MCP protocol components
ā”œā”€ā”€ tests/                   # Test suite
ā””ā”€ā”€ data/                    # Data files

Adding New Components

1. Adding a New Best Practice

Edit the addDefaultBestPractices method in pkg/hashicorp/tfdocs/indexer.go.

2. Adding a New Pattern Template

Edit the initializeDefaultPatterns method in pkg/hashicorp/tfdocs/patterns.go.

3. Adding a New Validator

Create a new validator that implements the Validator interface in pkg/hashicorp/tfdocs/validation.go.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.