State | File

: By storing a local or remote record, Terraform avoids querying your cloud provider for every single resource status, which speeds up the deployment process.

: It helps identify "resource drift," which occurs when someone manually changes a resource (e.g., via the AWS Console) outside of the Terraform workflow. State File

You should the state file. Instead, use the Terraform CLI to interact with it safely: How to manage Terraform state - Gruntwork Blog : By storing a local or remote record,