Skip to main content
HashiTalks 2025 Learn about unique use cases, homelab setups, and best practices at scale at our 24-hour virtual knowledge sharing event. Register
Demo

When, Why, and How to Use the CDK for Terraform

Find out when and why you would want to use the CDK for Terraform to write your infrastructure as code in TypeScript, C#, Python, Java, or Go.

Since the release of Cloud Development Kit for Terraform (CDKTF) the recurring question has been "Why should I use it?" The truth is, if you're fine with using HCL, then you don't need to! But CDK for Terraform can be useful for some teams that want to get productive with Terraform right away without learning HCL.

»What You'll Learn

In this talk, you'll get a framework for the "when" and "why" teams would leverage the workflow convenience of CDKTF and what it adds to empower both developers and operators alike. The second half of the talk will be a demo on how the CDKTF can be used to seamlessly extend existing Terraform projects using both Terraform Cloud and HashiCorp Sentinel to enforce standards.

»When to Use HCL vs a Programming Language

This chart is explained further in the talk, but it's a good starting point for assessing what your approach to Terraform coding should be.

»Agenda

  • Intro to the CDK for Terraform

  • When and why to use it

  • Curiosities and questions

  • Getting started demo

  • Perfect scenario

More resources like this one

2/3/2023Case Study

Automating Multi-Cloud, Multi-Region Vault for Teams and Landing Zones

1/5/2023Case Study

How Discover Manages 2000+ Terraform Enterprise Workspaces

12/22/2022Case Study

Architecting Geo-Distributed Mobile Edge Applications with Consul

zero-trust
12/13/2022White Paper

A Field Guide to Zero Trust Security in the Public Sector