HFCP study guide
HFCP · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The HashiCorp Certified: Foundational Cloud Practitioner (HFCP) is an entry-level credential for people who work with cloud infrastructure and want to demonstrate working knowledge of HashiCorp's toolset. It suits cloud engineers, platform and DevOps practitioners, system administrators, and developers who are early in their cloud careers or moving into infrastructure automation. The HFCP study guide has 7 sections and about 2,881 words.
01Cloud Computing Fundamentals
Domain 1 - Cloud Computing Fundamentals. This domain tests whether you can explain the cloud delivery model precisely: service models, the shared responsibility boundary, regions and availability zones, and the operating model that makes infrastructure automatable.
416 words, about 2 min02Infrastructure as Code with Terraform
Domain 2 - Infrastructure as Code with Terraform. This domain tests the Terraform workflow and the mechanics behind it: HCL configuration, providers, state, plan/apply, modules, meta-arguments, and drift.
426 words, about 2 min03Networking and Security Automation
Domain 3 - Networking and Security Automation. This domain tests whether you can express network topology and security controls as code, and where policy enforcement actually sits.
397 words, about 2 min04Secrets Management with Vault
Domain 4 - Secrets Management with Vault. This domain tests Vault's architecture and the operational choices that keep secrets short-lived: engines, auth methods, policies, leases, and audit.
441 words, about 2 min05Service Networking and Service Mesh
Domain 5 - Service Networking and Service Mesh. This domain tests service discovery and secure service-to-service communication, primarily with Consul.
403 words, about 2 min06HashiCorp Cloud Platform (HCP) Operations
Domain 6 - HashiCorp Cloud Platform (HCP) Operations. This domain tests how HCP delivers managed HashiCorp products and how organizations, projects, workspaces, and access are structured.
415 words, about 2 min07Automation, CI/CD, and Collaboration
Domain 7 - Automation, CI/CD, and Collaboration. This domain tests how Terraform and Vault fit into a delivery pipeline: reviewable plans, policy gates, short-lived credentials, and safe apply.
383 words, about 2 min