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Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/mcamacho97/terraform-mean-stack-aws/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

Before you can provision the MEAN stack infrastructure, your local machine and AWS account must satisfy four requirements: the Terraform CLI (version 1.12 or later), the AWS CLI configured with valid credentials, an IAM user or role that holds the necessary service permissions, and an S3 bucket to store Terraform’s remote state file. Each of these is covered in detail below.

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Terraform CLI

The project requires Terraform >= 1.12, as declared in versions.tf. Earlier versions may lack syntax support or provider compatibility used in this configuration.

Install on macOS

Install via Homebrew or download the binary from HashiCorp

Install on Linux / Windows

Package manager instructions and manual install guides
After installing, verify the version: 
terraform version
Expected output (version number will vary): 
Terraform v1.12.0
on linux_amd64

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AWS CLI

Terraform uses the AWS CLI credential chain to authenticate API calls. Install the AWS CLI v2 and then run the interactive configuration wizard: 
aws configure
The wizard prompts for four values:
PromptExample value
AWS Access Key IDAKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE
AWS Secret Access KeywJalrXUtnFEMI/K7MDENG/bPxRfiCYEXAMPLEKEY
Default region nameus-east-1
Default output formatjson
Once configured, confirm the credentials are working and note which IAM principal is active: 
aws sts get-caller-identity
A successful response looks like: 
{
    "UserId": "AIDAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE",
    "Account": "123456789012",
    "Arn": "arn:aws:iam::123456789012:user/my-terraform-user"
}

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AWS IAM Permissions

The IAM user or role used by Terraform must have permissions across the following AWS services. The table lists the minimum access needed to create, update, and destroy all resources in this project.
ServiceRequired access
EC2Full (ec2:*) — instances, AMI lookups, key pairs, security groups
VPCFull — VPC, subnets, route tables, internet gateways, NAT gateways
ELB / ALBFull — application load balancers, target groups, listeners
IAMCreate and delete roles, instance profiles, and role attachments
S3GetObject, PutObject, DeleteObject, ListBucket on the state bucket
For production deployments, avoid attaching AdministratorAccess to the Terraform IAM user. Instead, author a custom IAM policy that grants only the actions listed above, scoped to specific resource ARNs where possible. This reduces blast radius in the event of a credential leak.

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S3 Backend Bucket

Terraform stores its state file remotely in an S3 bucket. This enables team collaboration, state locking (when paired with DynamoDB), and prevents state loss if the local working directory is deleted. Create the bucket: 
aws s3api create-bucket \
  --bucket my-terraform-state-bucket \
  --region us-east-1
Enable versioning so you can recover from accidental state corruption: 
aws s3api put-bucket-versioning \
  --bucket my-terraform-state-bucket \
  --versioning-configuration Status=Enabled
S3 bucket names must be globally unique. Choose a name that includes your project or organization identifier, for example acme-terraform-mean-state.

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Terraform Providers

When you run terraform init, Terraform automatically downloads the three providers declared in versions.tf. No manual installation is required.
ProviderSourceVersion constraint
awshashicorp/aws~> 6.0
tlshashicorp/tls~> 4.0
localhashicorp/local~> 2.5
The aws provider manages all AWS resources. The tls provider generates the RSA key pair for SSH access, and the local provider writes the resulting private key to your filesystem under keys/.
Once all four prerequisites are satisfied, head to the next step to configure your deployment variables and backend settings.Configure Variables →

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