Intermediate HCL: Configuration Languages in HCL2
summary
Argues HCL2 is a language for domain-specific configuration languages, not just a data format, showing a Go-based parser using the HCL and cty libraries, environment-backed variables (PS_ prefix loader), over a hundred Terraform functions available, and user-defined functions (a parametric random selector with error handling). Demonstrates partial decoding of HCL bodies to implement polymorphic blocks (pets → cats/dogs), enforces required fields and type safety, and shows the toy deployment manifest and pet demo compile and error clearly when misconfigured.
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chapters (12)
- 0:00Introduction
- 3:46HCL vs Other Tools
- 5:30Shared Context
- 6:48Three Techniques
- 8:40Lisa Mona
- 8:50Example
- 10:50Code
- 12:30Variables
- 13:10Tie Functions
- 14:22Decoding
- 15:43Environment variables
- 17:10Building environment variables
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