Turn a plan you already produce into a Form you can explore, explain, compare, and check; the last section does the same with a state export. You need Rootform and a root module you can plan with your usual backend, workspace, and credentials.
Rootform itself needs none of those: it reads the exported files and never runs Terraform or OpenTofu, contacts a provider, or refreshes state.
From the root module, save a plan and export that same saved plan as JSON.
Terraform
terraform plan -out=plan.tfplanterraform show -json plan.tfplan > plan.jsonOpenTofu
tofu plan -out=plan.tfplantofu show -json plan.tfplan > plan.jsonrootform run plan.json --plan-file plan.tfplanPlan analyzedEnrichment Saved plan paired with this plan JSON (1 module)Stage PlannedThe summary counts the planned resource instances, how many a Dialect Rule interpreted, and the facts those Rules established, then lists the plan's changes.
The Explorer opens in your browser from a local server, and the terminal shows
its address. Press Ctrl+C to stop it.
Enrichment confirms that the saved plan paired with the JSON export, which
lets Rootform follow references whose values are unknown until apply. Without
--plan-file, those placements stay indeterminate rather than guessed. If
pairing is refused, export the JSON again from the saved plan you pass;
Pair the saved plan explains the check,
and Trace a placement shows one
closure with and without the saved plan.
Interpreted counts instances that matched a Rule, which does not settle every fact: the Uncertainty section counts the closures that stayed indeterminate and why, most often a value unknown until apply. A resource without a Rule keeps its place in the Form with no architectural facts, as Instances without Rules explains.
Planned changes compares what the plan starts from with what it proposes. Reported drift lists the drift records the export holds, and Net change shows what remains once drift and plan combine. On a plan from an empty state, Reported drift is empty and Net change repeats Planned changes. "No drift reported in this plan" means the export holds no drift record, not that infrastructure is unchanged. Review planned changes reads all three.
Write the Form and a report instead of serving the Explorer:
rootform run plan.json --plan-file plan.tfplan --no-serve -o analysis.json -o review.mdanalysis.json is the Form. It reopens with rootform run analysis.json
without the plan files and feeds explain, check, and comparisons.
review.md is a readable report for a pull request. Neither holds sensitive
plan values, but both name resources and describe topology, so share them as
you would an architecture diagram.
Outputs and exit status lists every format.
State gives a different view: a snapshot of the architecture recorded in
state, with no planned change. Export it from the same root module and run the
same command. OpenTofu users export with tofu show -json.
terraform show -json > state.jsonrootform run state.jsonThe summary reads State analyzed, and the Form has one stage, Recorded. It holds what state records, not a live view of your cloud: Rootform refreshes nothing. You explore, explain, save, and compare it like a plan Form. A comparison with a later plan shows how the architecture that plan proposes differs from the recorded one, as in Compare other stage pairs.
Rootform reads only the export, so a state.json produced elsewhere can be
analyzed on a machine without Terraform, providers, or cloud credentials. State
JSON can contain secrets too; keep it out of Git.
Choose an input explains when state, a plan, or a saved
Form answers your question.
Continue in Explore a Form to find resources and read their evidence, or ask the same questions from the terminal with Explain an architecture.