Apply requirements and overrides

Terrateam provides a set of apply requirements that must be met before an apply operation can be executed. These requirements help ensure that changes to your infrastructure are properly reviewed and approved before being applied. However, there may be situations where you need to override these requirements. Terrateam allows you to configure and manage apply requirements and overrides using access control.

Apply requirements

By default, Terrateam has the following apply requirements:

• The pull request must not have any merge conflicts.
• All status checks associated with the pull request must have passed.

Configuring apply requirements

You can configure the apply requirements in your Terrateam configuration file (.terrateam/config.yml).

Here’s an example configuration:

apply_requirements:
  checks:
    approved:
      enabled: true
      count: 2
    merge_conflicts:
      enabled: true
    status_checks:
      enabled: true
      ignore_matching:
        - "ci/.*"

In this example:

• The approved requirement is enabled, and the pull request must have at least 2 approvals.
• The merge_conflicts requirement is enabled, and the pull request must not have any merge conflicts.
• The status_checks requirement is enabled, and all status checks associated with the pull request must have passed, except for those matching the regular expression ci/.*.

By adjusting these settings, you can customize the apply requirements to match your team’s workflow and policies.

Access control and apply overrides

Terrateam’s access control feature allows you to define a set of capabilities, such as plan and apply, and specify which users can perform those operations. This feature can be used to manage apply overrides and control who has the ability to bypass apply requirements.

Enabling access control

To enable access control, add the following to your Terrateam configuration file:

access_control:
  enabled: true

Configuring access control policies

Access control policies define the capabilities and permissions for different users and groups. Here’s an example configuration:

access_control:
  enabled: true
  apply_require_all_dirspace_access: true
  plan_require_all_dirspace_access: false
  terrateam_config_update: ['*']
  unlock: ['*']
  policies:
    - tag_query: ''
      apply: ['role:maintain']
      apply_autoapprove: ['user:alice']
      apply_force: ['team:sre']
      apply_with_superapproval: ['role:write']
      plan: ['*']
      superapproval: ['user:bob']

In this example:

• The apply capability is granted to users with the maintain role in the repository.
• The apply_autoapprove capability is granted to the user alice.
• The apply_force capability is granted to members of the sre team.
• The apply_with_superapproval capability is granted to users with the write role in the repository, but only if a user with the superapproval capability has approved the pull request.
• The plan capability is granted to all users (*).
• The superapproval capability is granted to the user bob.

Using apply overrides

With access control configured, users with the appropriate capabilities can override apply requirements using the following methods:

1. terrateam apply-force: Users with the apply_force capability can use this command to bypass all apply requirements and force an apply operation.

2. terrateam apply-autoapprove: Users with the apply_autoapprove capability can use this command to automatically approve and apply changes without requiring additional approvals.

3. Super Approval: Users with the apply_with_superapproval capability can apply changes if a user with the superapproval capability has approved the pull request, even if other apply requirements are not met.

Best practices

When configuring and managing apply requirements and overrides with access control, consider the following best practices:

• Grant apply override capabilities only to trusted users or groups who understand the potential risks and consequences of bypassing apply requirements.
• Use the apply_require_all_dirspace_access and plan_require_all_dirspace_access settings to control whether users need access to all targeted directories (dirspaces) to perform apply or plan operations.
• Use the terrateam_config_update and unlock settings to control who can modify the Terrateam configuration and unlock locked resources.