Terraform Apply Skill

Apply Terraform changes safely in this infrastructure monorepo. All Terraform runs (except bootstrap) execute remotely via Terraform Cloud (TFC).

Directory Structure

code

terraform/
  bootstrap/              # TFC workspaces and variable sets (LOCAL state)
  global/                 # Cross-cluster resources (Tailscale, 1Password)
  clusters/
    do-nyc3-prod/         # DigitalOcean NYC3 production cluster
    _template/            # Template for new clusters
  modules/
    k8s-cluster/{provider}/  # Reusable provider-specific modules

Workflow

1. Navigate to the correct module

bash

cd /Users/ben/Code/infra/terraform/clusters/do-nyc3-prod

2. Initialize (if needed)

bash

terraform init

3. Plan changes

bash

terraform plan -out=plan.tfplan

Use .tfplan extension - it's gitignored.

Review the plan output carefully:

•+ = create new resource
•~ = modify existing resource
•- = destroy resource
•-/+ = destroy and recreate (potentially disruptive!)

4. Apply the plan

bash

terraform apply plan.tfplan

TFC executes the apply remotely. Output streams to the terminal.

CRITICAL: Security Rules

NEVER commit these files:

•*.tfstate / *.tfstate.backup - Contains sensitive data
•*.tfvars - May contain secrets (use .tfvars.example instead)
•*.tfplan / tfplan - Binary plan files may contain sensitive values
•.terraform/ - Provider plugins and local state
•API keys, tokens, passwords, or any credentials

Before EVERY commit, verify:

bash

# Check for state/var/plan files
git diff --cached --name-only | grep -E '\.(tfstate|tfvars|tfplan)$'
git diff --cached --name-only | grep -E '^.*tfplan$'

# Grep for secrets in staged changes
git diff --cached -S"SECRET" -S"TOKEN" -S"PASSWORD" -S"API_KEY"

If either returns matches, unstage immediately. If secrets were committed, repository history must be rewritten.

TFC Configuration

Organization: bc4

Module	Workspace	Variable Sets
bootstrap	(local state)	-
global	bc4/global	tailscale-credentials, onepassword-credentials
do-nyc3-prod	bc4/do-nyc3-prod	digitalocean-credentials, onepassword-credentials

Variable sets are managed in terraform/bootstrap/main.tf. To attach a new variable set:

hcl

resource "tfe_workspace_variable_set" "cluster_onepassword" {
  variable_set_id = tfe_variable_set.onepassword.id
  workspace_id    = tfe_workspace.this["do-nyc3-prod"].id
}

Updating Provider Versions

Query the Terraform Registry API for latest versions:

bash

# DigitalOcean
curl -s https://registry.terraform.io/v1/providers/digitalocean/digitalocean | jq '.version'

# 1Password
curl -s https://registry.terraform.io/v1/providers/1Password/onepassword | jq '.version'

# Tailscale
curl -s https://registry.terraform.io/v1/providers/tailscale/tailscale | jq '.version'

# TFE (Terraform Cloud)
curl -s https://registry.terraform.io/v1/providers/hashicorp/tfe | jq '.version'

# Terraform itself
curl -s https://releases.hashicorp.com/terraform/index.json | jq -r '.versions | keys | .[]' | sort -V | tail -5

Files to update when changing versions:

•.terraform-version - tfenv version (should match required_version)
•terraform/bootstrap/main.tf - tfe provider
•terraform/global/main.tf - tailscale provider
•terraform/clusters/do-nyc3-prod/main.tf - digitalocean, onepassword providers
•terraform/clusters/_template/main.tf - required_version only

Use pessimistic constraints (~> X.Y) pinned to minor version for stability while allowing patches.

Common Operations

Resize node pool

Edit terraform/clusters/{cluster}/cluster.tf:

hcl

resource "digitalocean_kubernetes_node_pool" "workers_8vcpu_16gb" {
  name       = "workers-8vcpu-16gb"
  size       = "s-8vcpu-16gb"
  auto_scale = true
  min_nodes  = 3
  max_nodes  = 5
}

Add new Spaces bucket

Edit terraform/clusters/{cluster}/spaces.tf and add to the observability map.

Create new cluster

bash

./scripts/new-cluster.sh <cluster-name>

This creates both terraform/clusters/{cluster}/ and kubernetes/clusters/{cluster}/.

Troubleshooting

"No configuration files" error

You're in the wrong directory. Always use absolute paths:

bash

cd /Users/ben/Code/infra/terraform/clusters/do-nyc3-prod && terraform plan

State lock errors

TFC manages state locking. If a run is stuck:

•Check TFC UI: https://app.terraform.io/app/bc4/{workspace}/runs
•Cancel any pending runs
•Retry

Provider version mismatch

bash

terraform init -upgrade

"region has insufficient capacity"

DigitalOcean may not have certain instance types available in a region. Check available sizes:

bash

doctl compute size list --output json | jq -r '.[] | select(.regions[] == "nyc3") | .slug'