Initial draft of Core Workflow Guide
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Paul Hinze
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layout: "guides"
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page_title: "The Core Terraform Workflow - Guides"
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sidebar_current: "guides-core-workflow"
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description: |-
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This guide provides an overview of the core Terraform workflow and how it
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applies in individual, team, and organization contexts across Terraform open
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source and Terraform Enterprise.
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---
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# The Core Terraform Workflow
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The core Terraform workflow has three steps:
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1. **Write** - Author infrastructure as code.
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2. **Plan** - Preview changes before applying.
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3. **Apply** - Provision reproducible infrastructure.
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This guide walks through how each of these three steps plays out in the context
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of working as an individual practitioner, how they evolve when a team is
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collaborating on infrastructure, and how Terraform Enterprise enables this
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workflow to run smoothly for entire organizations.
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## Working as an Individual Practitioner
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Let's first walk through how these parts fit together as an individual working
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on infrastructure as code.
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### Write
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You write Terraform configuration just like you write code: in your editor of
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choice. It's common practice to store your work in a version controlled
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repository even when you're just operating as an individual.
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```sh
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# Create repository
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$ git init my-infra && cd my-infra
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Initialized empty Git repository in /.../my-infra/.git/
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# Write initial config
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$ vim main.tf
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# Initialize Terraform
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$ terraform init
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Initializing provider plugins...
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# ...
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Terraform has been successfully initialized!
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```
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As you make progress on authoring your config, repeatedly running plans can help
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flush out syntax errors and ensure that your config is coming together as you
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expect.
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```sh
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# Make edits to config
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$ vim main.tf
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# Review plan
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$ terraform plan
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# Make additional edits, and repeat
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$ vim main.tf
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```
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This parallels working on application code as an individual, where a tight
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feedback loop between editing code and running test commands is useful.
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### Plan
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When the feedback loop of the Write step has yielded a change that looks good,
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it's time to commit your work and review the final plan.
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```sh
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$ git add main.tf
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$ git commit -m 'Managing infrastructure as code!'
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[master (root-commit) f735520] Managing infrastructure as code!
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1 file changed, 1 insertion(+)
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```
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Because `terraform apply` will display a plan for confirmation before
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proceeding to change any infrastructure, that's the command you run for final
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review.
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```sh
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$ terraform apply
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An execution plan has been generated and is shown below.
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# ...
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```
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### Apply
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After one last check, you are ready to tell Terraform to provision real
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infrastructure.
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```sh
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Do you want to perform these actions?
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Terraform will perform the actions described above.
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Only 'yes' will be accepted to approve.
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Enter a value: yes
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# ...
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Apply complete! Resources: 1 added, 0 changed, 0 destroyed.
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```
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At this point, it's common to push your version control repository to a remote
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location for safekeeping.
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```sh
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$ git remote add origin https://github.com/*user*/*repo*.git
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$ git push origin master
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```
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This core workflow is a loop; the next time you want to make changes, you start
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the process over from the beginning.
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Notice how closely this workflow parallels the process of writing application
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code or scripts as an individual? This is what we mean when we talk about
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Terraform enabling infrastructure as code.
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## Working as a Team
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Once multiple people are collaborating on Terraform configuration, new steps
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must be added to each part of the core workflow to ensure everyone is working
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together smoothly. You'll see that many of these steps parallel the workflow
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changes we make when we work on application code as teams rather than as
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individuals.
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### Write
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While each individual on a team still makes changes to Terraform configuration
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in their editor of choice, they save their changes to version control _branches_
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to avoid colliding with each other's work. Working in branches enables team
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members to resolve mutually incompatible infrastructure changes using their
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normal merge conflict workflow.
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```sh
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$ git checkout -b add-load-balancer
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Switched to a new branch 'add-load-balancer'
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```
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Running iterative plans is still useful as a feedback loop while authoring
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configuration, though having each team member's computer able to run them
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becomes more difficult with time. As the team and the infrastructure grows, so
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does the number of sensitive input variables (e.g. API Keys, SSL Cert Pairs)
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required to run a plan.
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To avoid the burden and the security risk of each team member arranging all
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sensitive inputs locally, it's common for teams to migrate to a model in which
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Terraform operations are executed in a shared Continuous Integration (CI)
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environment. The work needed to create such a CI environment is nontrivial, and
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is outside the scope of this core workflow overview, but a full deep dive on
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this topic can be found in our
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[Running Terraform in Automation](https://www.terraform.io/guides/running-terraform-in-automation.html)
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guide.
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This longer iteration cycle of committing changes to version control and then
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waiting for the CI pipeline to execute is often lengthy enough to prohibit using
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speculative plans as a feedback loop while authoring individual Terraform
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configuration changes. Speculative plans are still useful before new Terraform
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changes are applied or even merged to the main development branch, however, as
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we'll see in a minute.
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### Plan
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For teams collaborating on infrastructure, Terraform's plan output creates an
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opportunity for team members to review each other's work. This allows the team
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to ask questions, evaluate risks, and catch mistakes before any potentially
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harmful changes are made.
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The natural place for these reviews to occur is alongside pull requests within
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version control--the point at which an individual proposes a merge from their
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working branch to the shared team branch. If team members review proposed
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config changes alongside speculative plan output, they can evaluate whether the
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intent of the change is being achieved by the plan.
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The problem becomes producing that speculative plan output for the team to
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review. Some teams that still run Terraform locally make a practice that pull
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requests should include an attached copy of speculative plan output generated
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by the change author. Others arrange for their CI system to post speculative
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plan output to pull requests automatically.
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In addition to reviewing the plan for the proper expression of its author's
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intent, the team can also make an evaluation whether they want this change to
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happen now. For example, if a team notices that a certain change could result
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in service disruption, they may decide to delay merging its pull request until
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they can schedule a maintenance window.
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### Apply
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Once a pull request has been approved and merged, it's important for the team
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to review the final concrete plan that's run against the shared team branch and
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the latest version of the state file.
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This plan has the potential to be different than the one reviewed on the pull
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request due to issues like merge order or recent infrastructural changes. For
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example, if a manual change was made to your infrastructure since the plan was
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reviewed, the plan might be different when you merge.
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It is at this point that the team asks questions about the potential
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implications of applying the change. Do we expect any service disruption from
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this change? Is there any part of this change that is high risk? Is there
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anything in our system that we should be watching as we apply this? Is there
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anyone we need to notify that this change is happening?
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Depending on the change, sometimes team members will want to watch the apply
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output as it is happening. For teams that are running Terraform locally, this
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may involve a screen share with the team. For teams running Terraform in CI,
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this may involve gathering around the build log.
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Just like the workflow for individuals, the core workflow for teams is a loop
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that plays out for each change. For some teams this loop happens a few times a
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week, for others, many times a day.
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## The Core Workflow Enhanced by Terraform Enterprise
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While the above described workflows enable the safe, predictable, and
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reproducible creating or changing of infrastructure, there are multiple
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collaboration points that can be streamlined, especially as teams and
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organizations scale. We designed Terraform Enterprise to support and enhance
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the core Terraform workflow for anyone collaborating on infrastructure, from
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small teams to large organizations. Let's look at how Terraform Enterprise makes
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for a better experience at each step.
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### Write
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Terraform Enterprise provides a centralized and secure location for storing
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input variables and state while also bringing back a tight feedback loop for
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speculative plans for config authors. Terraform configuration interacts with
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Terraform Enterprise via the ["remote" backend](/docs/backends/types/remote.html).
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```
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terraform {
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backend "remote" {
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organization = "my-org"
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workspaces {
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prefix = "my-app-"
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}
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}
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}
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```
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Once the backend is wired up, a Terraform Enterprise API key is all that's
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needed by team members to be able to edit config and run speculative plans
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against the latest version of the state file using all the remotely stored
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input variables.
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```sh
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$ terraform workspace select my-app-dev
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Switched to workspace "my-app-dev".
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$ terraform plan
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Running plan remotely in Terraform Enterprise.
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Output will stream here. To view this plan in a browser, visit:
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https://app.terraform.io/my-org/my-app-dev/.../
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Refreshing Terraform state in-memory prior to plan...
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# ...
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Plan: 1 to add, 0 to change, 0 to destroy.
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```
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With the assistance of this plan output, team members can each work on
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authoring config until it is ready to propose as a change via a pull request.
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### Plan
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Once a pull request is ready for review, Terraform Enterprise makes the process
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of reviewing a speculative plan easier for team members. First, the plan is
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automatically run when the pull request is created. Status updates to the pull
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request indicate while the plan is in progress.
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Once the plan is complete, the status update indicates whether there were any
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changes in the speculative plan, right from the pull request view.
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<!-- TODO: [ Screenshot of PR with preview details ] -->
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For certain types of changes, this information is all that's needed for a team
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member to be able to approve the pull request. When a teammate needs to do a
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full review of the plan, clicking the link to Terraform Enterprise brings up a
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view that allows them to quickly analyze the full plan details.
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<!-- TODO: [ Screenshot of speculative plan details page ] -->
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This page allows the reviewer to quickly determine if the plan is matching the
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config author's intent and evaluate the risk of the change.
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### Apply
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After merge, Terraform Enterprise presents the concrete plan to the team for
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review and approval.
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The team can discuss any outstanding questions about the plan before the change
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is made.
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Once the Apply is confirmed, Terraform Enterprise displays the progress live
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to anyone who'd like to watch.
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<!--
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TODO: Add this back in w/ screenshot of notification
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And after the change completes, the team can be notified of its outcome.
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[ Multi-screenshot of Slack alert indicating Apply completed successfully and
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with error; except it's not gonna be Slack anymore? ]
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-->
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## Conclusion
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There are many different ways to use Terraform: as an individual user, a single
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team, or an entire organization at scale. Choosing the best approach for the
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density of collaboration needed will provide the most return on your investment
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in the core Terraform workflow. For organizations using Terraform at scale,
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Terraform Enterprise introduces new layers that build on this core workflow to
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solve problems unique to teams and organizations.
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@ -5,6 +5,10 @@
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<a href="/intro/getting-started/install.html">Getting Started</a>
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</li>
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<li<%= sidebar_current("guides-core-workflow") %>>
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<a href="/guides/core-workflow.html">The Core Terraform Workflow</a>
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</li>
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<li<%= sidebar_current("recommended-practices") %>><a href="/docs/enterprise/guides/recommended-practices/index.html">Terraform Recommended Practices</a>
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<ul class="nav">
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<li<%= sidebar_current("recommended-practices-1") %>><a href="/docs/enterprise/guides/recommended-practices/part1.html">Part 1: Workflow Overview</a></li>
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