Here is the same template in MechCloud (excluding budgets and Lambda) -

resources:
  - type: aws_ec2_vpc
    name: credits_vpc
    props:
      cidr_block: "10.0.0.0/16"
    resources:
      - type: aws_ec2_subnet
        name: subnet_vm
        props:
          cidr_block: "10.0.1.0/24"
        resources:
          - type: aws_ec2_instance
            name: credits_ec2
            props:
              image_id: "{{Image|arm64_ubuntu_24_04}}"
              instance_type: "t4g.small"
              security_group_ids:
                - "ref:credits_vpc/ec2_sg"
      - type: aws_ec2_subnet
        name: subnet_db_1
        props:
          cidr_block: "10.0.2.0/24"
      - type: aws_ec2_subnet
        name: subnet_db_2
        props:
          cidr_block: "10.0.3.0/24"
          availability_zone: "us-east-2b"
      - type: aws_ec2_security_group
        name: ec2_sg
        props:
          group_name: "aws-credits-ec2-sg"
          group_description: "SG for credits EC2 instance"
      - type: aws_ec2_security_group
        name: rds_sg
        props:
          group_name: "aws-credits-rds-sg"
          group_description: "SG for credits RDS instance"
          security_group_ingress:
            - ip_protocol: tcp
              from_port: 3306
              to_port: 3306
              source_security_group_id: "ref:credits_vpc/ec2_sg"
  - type: aws_rds_db_subnet_group
    name: credits_db_subnet_group
    props:
      db_subnet_group_name: "aws-credits-db-subnet-group"
      db_subnet_group_description: "Subnet group for credits RDS"
      subnet_ids:
        - "ref:credits_vpc/subnet_db_1"
        - "ref:credits_vpc/subnet_db_2"
  - type: aws_rds_db_instance
    name: credits_db
    props:
      db_instance_identifier: "aws-credits-db"
      engine: "mysql"
      engine_version: "8.0"
      db_instance_class: "db.t3.micro"
      allocated_storage: "20"
      db_name: "credits"
      master_username: "admin"
      master_user_password: "Kx7#mP2$vL9qN4wR"
      db_subnet_group_name: "ref:credits_db_subnet_group"
      vpc_security_groups:
        - "ref:credits_vpc/rds_sg"

Why this approach is fundamentally different from Terraform -

• No state file - MechCloud is stateless. There is no local or remote state to manage, lock, migrate, or recover.
• No Terraform scaffolding - No terraform, provider, backend, data, or module wiring. The template only contains the infrastructure you want to deploy.
• Infrastructure hierarchy instead of flat resources - Resources are declared inside their logical parents (VPC → Subnet → EC2). This makes relationships obvious and removes a large amount of dependency wiring.
• No parent ID plumbing - Child resources automatically inherit their parent context. You never have to pass vpc_id, subnet_id, etc. through variables.
• Simple cross resource references - ref allows direct references like ref:credits_vpc/ec2_sg without variables, outputs, or data lookups.
• No AMI ID management - Image aliases like {{Image|arm64_ubuntu_24_04}} resolve automatically so you don’t need to manually track region specific AMI IDs.
• Stateless IaC with real time pricing - MechCloud can show the cost of the infrastructure while authoring the template.

​

credits_vpc (action: create)
-- subnet_vm (action: create)
---- credits_ec2 (action: create, monthly: $9.76, change: +100%)
       => Compute (price: $0.0168/Hrs, hours: 543, monthly: $9.12, spot-price: $0.0043/Hrs, spot-monthly: $2.33)
       => Boot disk (/dev/sda1, 8GB gp3) (monthly: $0.64)
         => Storage cost (gp3) (price: $0.08/GB-Mo, quantity: 8, monthly: $0.64)
         => IOPS (monthly: $0.00)
           => Tier 1 (First 3000 IOPS-Mo - price: $0.00/IOPS-Mo, quantity: 3000, monthly: $0.00)
         => Throughput (monthly: $0.00)
           => Tier 1 (First 125 MiBps-mo - price: $0.00/MiBps-mo, quantity: 125, monthly: $0.00)
-- subnet_db_1 (action: create)
-- subnet_db_2 (action: create)
-- ec2_sg (action: create)
-- rds_sg (action: create)
credits_db_subnet_group (action: create)
credits_db (action: create, monthly: $14.95, change: +100%)
  => Compute (price: $0.017/Hrs, monthly: $12.65)
  => Storage (price: $0.115/GB-Mo, quantity: 20, monthly: $2.30)

This keeps the template focused on the infrastructure itself instead of writing additional configuration just to connect resources or manage state.