Which statement about dependencies in Terraform is true?

Which statement about dependencies in Terraform is true?

• A. Terraform can only manage dependencies if you set depends_on
• B. Terraform uses implicit dependencies by default
• C. Dependencies are managed by the provider
• D. Terraform cannot manage dependencies

Answer: (B)

Terraform determines the order of operations by analyzing references between resources, data sources, and module outputs. When one resource uses an attribute or output from another, Terraform automatically treats that as a dependency and builds a dependency graph. This implicit mechanism means you don’t have to declare every relationship; Terraform infers it from how you reference values. Only if you need to force a specific ordering that isn’t captured by a reference would you use an explicit dependency with depends_on. The provider defines resources, but the actual dependency planning and ordering come from Terraform’s graph, not from the provider itself. So, the statement that Terraform uses implicit dependencies by default is the correct one.

Terraform determines the order of operations by analyzing references between resources, data sources, and module outputs. When one resource uses an attribute or output from another, Terraform automatically treats that as a dependency and builds a dependency graph. This implicit mechanism means you don’t have to declare every relationship; Terraform infers it from how you reference values.

Only if you need to force a specific ordering that isn’t captured by a reference would you use an explicit dependency with depends_on. The provider defines resources, but the actual dependency planning and ordering come from Terraform’s graph, not from the provider itself. So, the statement that Terraform uses implicit dependencies by default is the correct one.