Terraform can only manage resource dependencies if you set them explicitly with the depends_on argument.

• A. True
• B. False
• C. Not sure
• D. Maybe

Answer: (B)

Terraform builds a dependency graph automatically from how you reference outputs and attributes between resources. When one resource uses an attribute from another as an input (for example, a subnet ID from a VPC or a server’s security group IDs), Terraform understands that the first resource must be created before the second and orders operations accordingly. The depends_on argument is only needed in situations where there isn’t a direct reference that gives Terraform enough information to establish that relationship, or when you want to enforce a specific ordering for side effects like provisioners. So the statement is false: dependencies can be managed implicitly, and depends_on is used only for explicit or exceptional cases.