# Terralith

A monolithic Terraform "root module" is also known as a Terralith. It's characterized by an expansive, all-encompassing Terraform configuration that attempts to manage every aspect of the infrastructure within a single module.

```mermaid
---
title: Anatomy of a Terralith
---
graph TD
    subgraph TerraformRootModule[Terraform Root Module]
        subgraph Network[Network VPC]
            subgraph Cluster[Kubernetes Cluster]
                App1(Application 1)
                App2(Application 2)
            end
            LB[(Load Balancer Module)]
            DB[(Database Module)]
            Cache[(Cache Module)]
            ObjectStorage[(Object Storage Module)]
        end
        LB --> App1
        LB --> App2
        App1 --> DB
        App1 --> Cache
        App2 --> ObjectStorage
    end
```

In Atmos, this is considered an anti-pattern; instead, this should be broken down into [components](/components) and configured with [stacks](/learn/stacks).

To learn more, see [Stage 2](/intro/why-atmos/stage-2) of the typical Terraform maturity path.