[cube2222]

Esp. as you start splitting up your statefiles!

However, I do think that this is mostly essential complexity, rather than accidental one. We're now building systems that are way more secure and/or scalable than before. Least possible network access and permissions everywhere already add a bunch of complexity. Pushing complexity from our code to managed cloud offerings does its part, too. But all of this can be tamed very well with modules and reusable components.

That said, if you're scaling Terraform, I do recommend you to check out the tools that have sprung up in the recent years to manage it. I'll personally recommend Spacelift[0] (see disclaimer). It can help you orchestrate your statefiles once you start having many of them (even tens or hundreds of statefiles in a single workflow are no problem) using stack dependencies, help team members self-serve through blueprints, automate all the things through OPA policies, and generally help you scale your Terraform usage to a larger team.

[0]: https://spacelift.io

Disclaimer: Software Engineering Team Lead at Spacelift, so take the recommendation with a fair grain of salt; I do legitimately think it's a great product though. If you'd like to reach out, feel free to do so through the website or the contact details in my profile.