2. Terraform Fundamentals (~11%)

With the reconciliation model in hand, this phase makes two of its three inputs concrete. Providers are how Terraform reaches every platform — you'll see how they work, how you declare and version them, and how the lock file keeps that reproducible. State is how Terraform remembers what it built — you'll move from "state is a record" to understanding precisely what it contains and why losing it is so costly. These are the mechanics the entire workflow in Phase 3 stands on.