HashiCorp Certified: Terraform Associate free question 3 / 10 · Domain 3: Core Terraform workflow
A team connects its repository to HCP Terraform. According to the workflow guide, what happens when a team member opens a pull request with a configuration change?
- HCP Terraform merges the pull request once a plan shows no errors in the change.
- HCP Terraform applies the change to a test copy, and the pull request shows its outputs.
- HCP Terraform runs a plan, and status updates on the pull request report its result.
- HCP Terraform waits for a reviewer to request a plan from the workspace by hand.
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: C
Why this is correct
In "The Core Workflow Enhanced by HCP Terraform", the Plan step says that once a pull request is ready for review, HCP Terraform makes reviewing a speculative plan easier. First, the plan is automatically run when the pull request is created, and status updates to the pull request indicate while the plan is in progress. Once the plan is complete, the status update shows whether there were any changes, right from the pull request view. For certain changes that is all a team member needs to approve the pull request; when a full review is needed, the link to HCP Terraform opens a view of the full plan details, where the reviewer can check the author's intent and the risk of the change. The Apply step follows after merge.
Why the other options are wrong
"HCP Terraform applies the change to a test copy, and the pull request shows its outputs." … What runs on the pull request is a speculative plan, a preview. In the guide, the apply comes later: after merge, HCP Terraform presents the concrete plan to the team, and the change runs once the Apply is confirmed.
"HCP Terraform waits for a reviewer to request a plan from the workspace by hand." … The guide says the first thing HCP Terraform does to ease review is to run the plan automatically when the pull request is created. Reviewers then use the link to HCP Terraform only when they need the full plan details.
"HCP Terraform merges the pull request once a plan shows no errors in the change." … Approving and merging stay with the team. The guide says that for some changes the status update is all a team member needs to approve the pull request, and that after merge the concrete plan is presented to the team for approval.
Pull request, then merge, then apply
Opening the pull request triggers a speculative plan with status updates on the request. Merging leads to the concrete plan, which the team approves before HCP Terraform applies it.