Last checked and updated on 10 Jun 2026
What Is New in Terraform 1.12
Terraform 1.12 adds official support for the OCI Object Storage backend and brings useful improvements to testing, import blocks, and expression evaluation.
This release focuses on expanding backend options and refining the testing experience for module authors.
| Category | Key Changes |
|---|---|
| New Features | OCI Object Storage backend support |
| Enhancements | terraform test -parallelism option, short-circuit logical operators, parallel test run annotation, improved test diagnostics, import blocks with identity attribute, OSS backend environment variable support, better elapsed time display, updated terminology in messages |
| Bug Fixes | Refreshed state usage for orphaned instances, version constraint error handling, sensitive attribute ordering in state, duplicate diagnostics, for_each in import blocks |
| Upgrade Notes | Linux kernel 3.2 or later now required |
New OCI Object Storage Backend
Terraform 1.12 adds a native backend for Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) Object Storage.
This allows you to store state directly in OCI without relying on third-party solutions.
Teams using OCI will find state management more seamless with this official backend.
Testing Improvements
The terraform test command now supports a -parallelism flag to control concurrent plan and apply operations.
You can annotate individual test runs to allow parallel execution, and the command continues running other tests when an expected failure does not occur.
Assertion failures now produce richer diagnostic objects, making test debugging much clearer.
Import Block Enhancements
Import blocks now support an identity attribute as an alternative to the traditional id attribute.
The two attributes are mutually exclusive.
This gives more flexibility when importing resources that use different identification mechanisms.
Expression and CLI Refinements
Logical binary operators now short-circuit evaluation, which can improve performance in some conditional expressions.
Elapsed time in the UI now displays in mm:ss format for better readability during long operations.
Several edge cases around state handling and diagnostics have also been resolved.
FAQ
What new backend was added in Terraform 1.12?
Official support for the OCI Object Storage backend, allowing state storage directly in Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.
How can I control parallelism when running terraform test in version 1.12?
Use the new -parallelism=n flag to set the number of concurrent operations during test plan and apply steps.
What changed with import blocks in Terraform 1.12?
Import blocks now support an identity attribute in addition to the id attribute. They are mutually exclusive.
Do logical operators short-circuit in Terraform 1.12?
Yes, logical binary operators now short-circuit, which can avoid unnecessary evaluation in complex conditions.
Is there a Linux kernel requirement change in Terraform 1.12?
Yes, Terraform now requires Linux kernel version 3.2 or later on Linux systems.