What is the purpose of the depends_on meta-argument in Terraform?

• A. It defines provider configuration
• B. It marks explicit dependencies between resources
• C. It controls resource lifecycle with create_before_destroy
• D. It stores secret values

Answer: (B)

Explicitly controlling the order Terraform provisions resources. The depends_on meta-argument adds an explicit edge in Terraform's dependency graph, so one resource is guaranteed to be created after another (and similarly for destruction) even when there isn't a direct reference between them. This is useful for enforcing sequencing when implicit dependencies aren’t present, such as ensuring a resource is fully created or a network component exists before attaching or configuring a dependent resource. It doesn’t configure provider settings, it isn’t about lifecycle behavior like create_before_destroy (that belongs to the lifecycle block), and it doesn’t store secret values.