🚀 Automating Netlify Deployments with Terraform + CLI

Deploying static sites manually can be repetitive. With Terraform and the Netlify CLI, you can automate everything — from creating a Netlify site to deploying your frontend, and even setting environment variables.

In this guide, I’ll walk you through how I deployed a simple static website using Terraform and the Netlify CLI.

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🔧 Prerequisites

Before you start, make sure you have:

• Terraform installed

• Netlify CLI installed (npm install -g netlify-cli)

• A Netlify account

• A site folder with static content (site/index.html)

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⚡ Step 1: Create a New Site with Terraform

We’ll use Terraform to dynamically generate a Netlify site name.

resource "random_pet" "suffix" {
  length = 2
}

locals {
  site_name = "hug-ibadan-${random_pet.suffix.id}"
}

output "site_name" {
  value = local.site_name
}

This ensures each site gets a unique name like hug-ibadan-demo-wolf.

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⚡ Step 2: Deploy the Site with Netlify CLI

Since the Netlify Terraform provider doesn’t fully support site creation yet, we’ll call the Netlify CLI inside Terraform using null_resource.

resource "null_resource" "netlify_site_deploy" {
  provisioner "local-exec" {
    command = <<EOT
      netlify deploy --prod \
        --dir "site" \
        --site "f682ae93-7d1d-40c9-a19c-7e2728d8349a"
    EOT
  }
}

👉 Important: Use the Site ID (UUID) instead of the human-readable site name.
You can find this with:

netlify sites:list

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⚡ Step 3: Add Environment Variables

If you want to set build/runtime environment variables:

resource "netlify_environment_variable" "welcome" {
  site_id = "f682ae93-7d1d-40c9-a19c-7e2728d8349a"
  key     = "WELCOME_MESSAGE"
  value   = "Hello from Terraform 🚀"
}

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⚡ Step 4: Apply and Deploy

Run:

terraform init
terraform apply

Once applied, Terraform will:
✅ Create a site
✅ Deploy your static files from the site/ directory
✅ Configure environment variables

You can confirm everything from your Netlify dashboard.

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🔍 SEO Benefits of Terraform + Netlify

• Fast deployment → Sites go live in seconds

• Infrastructure as Code (IaC) → Your hosting setup is versioned and repeatable

• SEO boost → Netlify automatically adds HTTPS and fast CDN delivery

• Scalability → Perfect for personal blogs, portfolios, or even client projects

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🎯 Final Thoughts

By combining Terraform with the Netlify CLI, you get the best of both worlds: automated infrastructure and one-command deployments. No more manual clicks on the Netlify dashboard!

If you’re working on static sites, JAMstack apps, or frontend projects, this workflow will save you hours.