Subchapter 21.81
references/services/container-apps/terraform.mdMarkdown6 KBView on GitHub
⚠️ Container Registry Naming: ACR names must be alphanumeric only (5-50 characters). Use Terraform’s
replace()function when constructing the value passed to , or otherwise strip hyphens manually.
azurecaf_name⚠️ Two-Phase Deployment (Mandatory): To avoid the chicken-and-egg problem where Terraform tries to create a Container App referencing an ACR image that doesn’t exist yet:
- Phase 1 (
terraform apply): Deploy ACR and Container App with a public placeholder image and noregistryblock.- Phase 2 (post-apply CLI): Build/push the app image to ACR, configure the registry/identity link, then update the Container App image.
This mirrors the Bicep two-phase pattern. Without it,
terraform applyfails withContainerAppOperationErrorbecause the image doesn’t exist in ACR yet.
⚠️ ACR Authentication — Managed Identity Only: Do not use
admin_enabled = trueonazurerm_container_registryor add aregistryblock withusername/password_secret_nameto the Container App. Admin credentials are a security risk and leak secrets into Terraform state. Always use managed identity with anAcrPullrole assignment, and configure the registry link viaaz containerapp registry set --identity systemin Phase 2.
# Placeholder image allows provisioning before the app image exists in ACR.
# No registry block in Terraform during Phase 1 — the registry/identity link is
# configured via CLI after provisioning (see Phase 2 below).
# Do NOT add a registry block with username/password_secret_name — use managed identity.
resource "azurerm_container_app" "api" {
name = azurecaf_name.container_app.result
container_app_environment_id = azurerm_container_app_environment.env.id
resource_group_name = azurerm_resource_group.rg.name
revision_mode = "Single"
identity {
type = "SystemAssigned"
}
tags = merge(var.tags, {
"azd-service-name" = "api"
})
template {
min_replicas = 1
max_replicas = 3
container {
name = "api"
image = "mcr.microsoft.com/azuredocs/containerapps-helloworld:latest"
cpu = 0.25
memory = "0.5Gi"
}
}
ingress {
external_enabled = true
target_port = 8080
traffic_weight {
latest_revision = true
percentage = 100
}
}
# Phase 2 updates the image and configures the registry/identity link via CLI.
# Prevent Terraform from reverting those changes on subsequent applies.
# Do NOT add a registry block here — use `az containerapp registry set --identity system`.
lifecycle {
ignore_changes = [
template[0].container[0].image,
registry,
]
}
}Deploy the AcrPull role assignment as a separate resource that depends on the Container App (to read its system-assigned identity principal ID). Neither the ACR nor the Container App depends on this resource, so there is no circular dependency.
resource "azurerm_role_assignment" "api_acr_pull" {
scope = azurerm_container_registry.acr.id
role_definition_name = "AcrPull"
principal_id = azurerm_container_app.api.identity[0].principal_id
principal_type = "ServicePrincipal"
}💡 Tip: Always set
principal_type = "ServicePrincipal"for managed identities. This skips the Graph API lookup and speeds up role assignment propagation.
After terraform apply succeeds, run these commands to build the real image and switch the Container App to it:
ACR_NAME=$(terraform output -raw acr_name)
ACR_SERVER=$(terraform output -raw acr_login_server)
APP_NAME=$(terraform output -raw container_app_name)
RG_NAME=$(terraform output -raw resource_group_name)
# 1. Build and push the application image to ACR
az acr build --registry $ACR_NAME --image myapp:latest ./src/api
# 2. Configure the registry/identity link (managed identity, no passwords)
az containerapp registry set \
--name $APP_NAME \
--resource-group $RG_NAME \
--server $ACR_SERVER \
--identity system
# 3. Update the Container App to use the real image
az containerapp update \
--name $APP_NAME \
--resource-group $RG_NAME \
--image $ACR_SERVER/myapp:latestPowerShell:
$AcrName = terraform output -raw acr_name
$AcrServer = terraform output -raw acr_login_server
$AppName = terraform output -raw container_app_name
$RgName = terraform output -raw resource_group_name
# 1. Build and push the application image to ACR
az acr build --registry $AcrName --image myapp:latest ./src/api
# 2. Configure the registry/identity link (managed identity, no passwords)
az containerapp registry set `
--name $AppName `
--resource-group $RgName `
--server $AcrServer `
--identity system
# 3. Update the Container App to use the real image
az containerapp update `
--name $AppName `
--resource-group $RgName `
--image "$AcrServer/myapp:latest"⚠️ Warning: Step 2 requires the
AcrPullrole assignment to have propagated (1–5 minutes afterterraform apply). If the image pull fails, wait and retry. See the azure-deploy skill’sreferences/pre-deploy-checklist.md(Container Apps + ACR pre-deploy RBAC health check).
Export the values needed by Phase 2:
output "acr_name" {
value = azurerm_container_registry.acr.name
}
output "acr_login_server" {
value = azurerm_container_registry.acr.login_server
}
output "container_app_name" {
value = azurerm_container_app.api.name
}
output "resource_group_name" {
value = azurerm_resource_group.rg.name
}
output "api_url" {
value = "https://${azurerm_container_app.api.ingress[0].fqdn}"
}resource "azurerm_container_app_environment" "env" {
name = azurecaf_name.container_app_env.result
location = azurerm_resource_group.rg.location
resource_group_name = azurerm_resource_group.rg.name
log_analytics_workspace_id = azurerm_log_analytics_workspace.logs.id
}