Skip to content

CI/CD Runners for Terraform

Runners are the agents that execute your CI/CD jobs. When working with Terraform in a CI/CD context, it's important to configure your runners appropriately.

Types of Runners

  1. Shared Runners: Provided by your CI/CD platform (e.g., GitLab.com, GitHub Actions)
  2. Self-Hosted Runners: Runners you manage yourself, useful for accessing private networks

Configuring Runners for Terraform

Docker-based Runners

Using a Docker image with Terraform pre-installed:

image:
  name: hashicorp/terraform:latest
  entrypoint:
    - '/usr/bin/env'
    - 'PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin'

Self-Hosted Runners

  1. Install Terraform on the runner
  2. Ensure necessary cloud provider CLIs are installed
  3. Configure appropriate permissions and access keys

Best Practices

  1. Use a specific version of Terraform to ensure consistency
  2. Regularly update the Terraform version used by your runners
  3. Use caching to speed up terraform init
  4. Implement proper secret management for access keys
  5. Use tagged runners for specific environments or cloud providers

Runner Requirements

  1. Sufficient CPU and memory for large Terraform operations
  2. Network access to your cloud providers and Terraform backends
  3. Sufficient disk space for Terraform plugins and state files

Security Considerations

  1. Limit runner access to only necessary resources
  2. Rotate access keys regularly
  3. Use least-privilege principles for runner permissions
  4. Implement network isolation for runners dealing with sensitive environments

Scaling Runners

  1. Use auto-scaling groups for cloud-based runners
  2. Implement parallel jobs for faster execution of multiple Terraform projects
  3. Consider using Terraform Cloud for managed remote execution

Remember to tailor your runner configuration to your specific needs and infrastructure requirements.