One of the most powerful aspects of Terraform is its ability to provide high-level, declarative abstractions over low-level, sometimes clumsy APIs. Good Terraform providers don’t merely wrap an API — they reinterpret it in a way that aligns better with how developers think and work. This smoothing of rough edges is what makes Terraform so effective for infrastructure automation.

A useful contrast can be found in two Azure providers: the AzAPI provider, which exposes Azure’s raw REST API surfaces nearly 1:1, and the AzureRM provider, which applies thoughtful abstraction. The AzureRM provider reworks verbose or inconsistent APIs into resources that feel coherent, safe, and developer-friendly. It trims complexity and elevates the experience, allowing developers to focus on intent rather than implementation.

The same design philosophy can and should be applied to custom resources, including those outside of traditional cloud providers — like in Minecraft. Let’s explore how a purpose-built minecraft_bed resource applies this idea by hiding the unintuitive details of bed creation and exposing a clean, expressive interface for the end user.

Understanding the Challenge: Why Beds Are Complicated

In Minecraft, a bed may look like a simple object, but technically it spans two separate blocks: one for the foot and one for the head. These blocks are placed adjacent to each other based on the bed’s orientation — north, south, east, or west — and must be configured with the correct metadata to render and behave correctly in-game.

Manually placing a bed via Minecraft’s primitive API, such as with the setblock command, means issuing two separate commands with accurate and coordinated block states. If one part is misaligned or omitted, the bed becomes invalid or fails to appear entirely.

This is a classic example of a low-level API that is functional but burdensome. Without abstraction, users must understand every nuance of bed construction just to place a single object.

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The Resource: minecraft_bed

To make bed placement accessible and declarative, we define a high-level Terraform-style resource called minecraft_bed. This resource captures user intent clearly while hiding the operational complexity:

resource "minecraft_bed" "bed1" {

  count = 0

  material = "minecraft:red_bed"

  position = {
    x = -254
    y = 69
    z = -104
  }
  direction = "east"

}

With this abstraction, users no longer have to issue two carefully configured setblock commands. Instead, they declare what they want: a red bed facing east at specific coordinates. The resource implementation handles the rest.

This mirrors the behavior of well-designed Terraform providers like AzureRM, which turn complex, multi-step workflows into intuitive single-resource declarations. It contrasts sharply with the raw approach of providers like AzAPI, where every nuance of the API must be encoded by hand.

Behind the Scenes: Implementing the Resource Type

The logic first checks whether the bed is occupied. This flag affects the metadata applied to both the head and foot blocks.

occupied := false
 if data.Occupied != nil {
  occupied = *data.Occupied
 }

 // Place FOOT at start position
 footMat := fmt.Sprintf(`%s[facing=%s,part=foot,occupied=%t]`, data.Material, data.Direction, occupied)
 if err := client.CreateBlock(ctx, footMat, data.Position.X, data.Position.Y, data.Position.Z); err != nil {
  resp.Diagnostics.AddError("Client Error", fmt.Sprintf("Unable to place bed foot: %s", err))
  return
 }

 // Place HEAD one block in facing direction
 headX := data.Position.X + dx
 headZ := data.Position.Z + dz
 headMat := fmt.Sprintf(`%s[facing=%s,part=head,occupied=%t]`, data.Material, data.Direction, occupied)
 if err := client.CreateBlock(ctx, headMat, headX, data.Position.Y, headZ); err != nil {
  // Roll back foot on failure
  _ = client.DeleteBlock(ctx, data.Position.X, data.Position.Y, data.Position.Z)
  resp.Diagnostics.AddError("Client Error", fmt.Sprintf("Unable to place bed head: %s", err))
  return
 }

The foot is always placed at the given position using the CreateBlock function and the appropriate block state.

The head of the bed must be placed one block in the specified direction. This requires a helper function that calculates offsets based on the orientation:

func bedOffset(facing string) (dx, dz int, valid bool) {
 switch facing {
 case "north":
  return 0, -1, true // Z decreases to the north
 case "south":
  return 0, 1, true // Z increases to the south
 case "east":
  return 1, 0, true // X increases to the east
 case "west":
  return -1, 0, true // X decreases to the west
 default:
  return 0, 0, false
 }
}

The returned offset is applied to compute the coordinates for the head block. If setting the head fails, the system rolls back the foot placement to avoid leaving a partially created bed.

Deleting a bed is far simpler than creating one. The destroy operation simply removes both blocks based on the stored orientation:

 // Delete foot
 _ = client.DeleteBlock(ctx, data.Position.X, data.Position.Y, data.Position.Z)

 // Delete head (based on stored direction)
 if ok {
  headX := data.Position.X + dx
  headZ := data.Position.Z + dz
  _ = client.DeleteBlock(ctx, headX, data.Position.Y, headZ)
 }

Again, the directional offset ensures the correct second block is removed, preserving the integrity of the world state.

Smoothing the Contours of the API

The minecraft_bed resource isn’t just a convenience—it’s a reflection of Terraform’s core strength: the ability to abstract complex behavior into reusable, declarative constructs. Like the AzureRM provider does for Azure, minecraft_bedtransforms what could be a verbose, error-prone process into a reliable, high-level operation.

By contrast, APIs like AzAPI expose raw resource definitions, requiring users to know exactly how the platform works internally. There’s little room for error recovery, no semantic uplift, and a higher burden on the developer. This is sometimes necessary for cutting-edge or poorly supported features, but it’s not ideal for common, repetitive use cases.

Just as AzureRM simplifies a virtual machine deployment with meaningful resource types (azurerm_virtual_machine, azurerm_network_interface, etc.), minecraft_bed lets the user think in terms of Minecraft concepts, not block metadata and placement math.

Conclusion

Creating a bed in Minecraft is deceptively complex — two blocks, relative positioning, directional metadata, and optional state flags. Without abstraction, users are forced to handle these concerns manually. But by designing a purpose-built Terraform resource like minecraft_bed, we can elevate the interface, reduce user error, and align infrastructure code with user intent.

This same philosophy powers the most effective Terraform providers. Abstractions that reflect user goals — not internal APIs — are what make Infrastructure as Code powerful. Whether you’re placing virtual machines in Azure or building beds in Minecraft, the lesson is the same: thoughtful abstractions help developers do more with less, safely and confidently.