What happens when you run the terraform taint command on a managed resource?

When the terraform taint command is executed on a managed resource, it effectively marks that resource for recreation. This means that during the next apply operation, Terraform will recognize that the resource is tainted and will destroy the existing instance of that resource before creating a new one in its place. The goal of this command is to ensure that a new version of the resource will be provisioned, which is particularly useful if the resource is in a problematic state or if you want to enforce a re-evaluation of its configuration.

The marking process does not directly modify the resource at the moment the taint command is run; rather, it flags it for actions to take effect later during the apply phase. Consequently, the infrastructure is updated accordingly during the subsequent apply, guaranteeing consistency and allowing for any configuration changes to be reapplied. This behavior is pivotal in maintaining the desired state that Terraform manages.