What is the State File?

After your first apply, notice a file named terraform.tfstate. This is the most critical file in IaC.

Why does it exist?

OpenTofu needs to remember what it built. If you change your code, it compares the new code with this state file to decide what needs to change in the cloud.

• Never edit this file manually.
• If you lose this file, OpenTofu 'forgets' your infrastructure, even if the resources still exist in AWS/Azure.