Sato
title: sato type: tool created: 2026-05-26 last_updated: 2026-05-26 related: ["radar/tools/CloudFormationToTerraform", "radar/techniques/CloudFormationIaCGenerator", "radar/techniques/TerraformTesting"] sources: ["https://github.com/JamesWoolfenden/sato"] radar_quadrant: Tools radar_ring: Assess radar_position: inner
CLI tool that converts AWS CloudFormation (CFN) and Azure ARM templates to Terraform HCL. The only IaC conversion tool on the radar covering both AWS and Azure input formats with Terraform as the output target.
sato takes a CloudFormation JSON/YAML template or an Azure ARM template and outputs Terraform HCL resource blocks, variable definitions, and output declarations. The conversion handles resource type mappings, parameter translations, and dependency relationships, producing a working starting point for a Terraform migration.
sato parse --file template.yaml --output ./terraform
Output requires human review and cleanup before terraform apply — no automated converter produces production-ready Terraform — but the blank-page problem is eliminated.
Three IaC conversion tools now sit on the radar; each targets a different scenario:
| Tool | Input | Output | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| sato | CFN, ARM | Terraform HCL | Migrating AWS or Azure templates to Terraform |
| radar/tools/CloudFormationToTerraform | CFN only | Terraform HCL | Simpler CFN-to-HCL conversion; community maintained |
| radar/techniques/CloudFormationIaCGenerator | Live AWS resources | CFN → CDK | Reverse-engineering live click-ops infra into CDK |
sato covers both AWS and Azure input formats and maintains broader resource type coverage than the community CloudFormation_To_Terraform tool.
- A team running AWS infrastructure in CloudFormation that wants to migrate to Terraform without rewriting templates by hand
- A team with Azure ARM deployments evaluating a move to Terraform for multi-cloud consistency
- Complementary to radar/techniques/TerraformTesting — once converted, the resulting modules can be covered by
terraform test
sato sits in the Assess ring of the Tools quadrant, at inner position. First studied via the GitHub repository (2024-08-01). Inner position reflects dual-format input coverage (CFN and ARM), broader resource support than the community CloudFormation_To_Terraform tool (center), active maintenance, and direct applicability to any team migrating existing CloudFormation or ARM infrastructure to Terraform. Remaining gate before Trial is a completed conversion of a real template with the resulting Terraform successfully applied to a non-production environment.
