Tfvars: Additional Lookups
It is generally encouraged to create tfvars files in the app/stacks/MOD/tfvars folder. Terraspace considers additional lookup paths though. It’s similar to how LOAD_PATH works. The lookup paths are:
seed/tfvars/stacks/MOD
seed/tfvars/modules/MOD
app/stacks/MOD/tfvars
Additional Seed Structure
Here’s an example folder structure. The tfvars files should mainly be in app/stacks/MOD/tfvars folders. However, you can create one-off seed/tfvars folders that mirror the modules and stack structure.
├── app
│ ├── modules
│ │ ├── instance
│ │ └── vpc
│ └── stacks
│ └── network
│ └── tfvars
│ └── dev.tfvars
└── seed
└── tfvars
└── modules
└── instance
└── dev.tfvars
One-Off Purposes
Terraspace offers this flexibility for one-off purposes. For example:
- You may also want to try out an app/modules/MOD quickly without having to define a stack.
- You may need to temporarily override the tfvars files embedded within the
app/stacks/MOD/tfvars.
It is strongly recommended to not define tfvars in app/modules/*/tfvars. This is because modules should be reusable.
Remember modules are like “functions” and tfvars are like “parameters” passed to them. Putting the tfvars files within the same module directory would be akin to hard coding parameters.
Why tfvars in Stacks?
To understand why terraspace encourages creating your tfvars within the app/stack/MOD/tfvars folder, it is key to understand the difference between app/modules and app/stacks. The difference is how you use them.
- Stacks are meant to be used to group together modules. It makes sense to include business-specific logic here.
- Whereas modules are smaller pieces that are meant to be reused. It does not make sense to include business-specific logic in here.
