S3 Native State Locking in Terraform

Traditionally, Terraform used DynamoDB-based locking to prevent concurrent state modifications when using an S3 backend. With Terraform 1.11, S3-native state locking is now generally available, allowing users to manage state locks directly through S3 without relying on DynamoDB.

This change simplifies state management by reducing dependencies and improving performance. While you can still use DynamoDB for migration purposes, Terraform recommends migrating to the new S3-native state locking mechanism.

Enabling S3 Native State Locking

To enable S3-native state locking, update your backend configuration to include the use_lockfile argument:

terraform {
  backend "s3" {
    bucket       = "my-terraform-state-bucket"
    key          = "state/terraform.tfstate"
    region       = "us-east-1"    
    use_lockfile = true # Enables S3-native state locking
  }
}

Once enabled, Terraform will automatically handle state locking via S3 (sidenote: Don't forget to update the required IAM permissions.) , preventing simultaneous operations on the state file.