In the previous section, we introduced input variables as a way to parameterize Terraform configurations. In this page, we introduce output variables as a way to organize data to be easily queried and shown back to the Terraform user.

When building potentially complex infrastructure, Terraform stores hundreds or thousands of attribute values for all your resources. But as a user of Terraform, you may only be interested in a few values of importance, such as a load balancer IP, VPN address, etc.

Outputs are a way to tell Terraform what data is important. This data is outputted when apply is called, and can be queried using the terraform output command.