Multi-Environment Workspace Management

Intermediate10 min

Use Terraform workspaces to manage multiple environments like dev, staging, and production from a single configuration.

Prerequisites

-Terraform installed
-Remote backend configured

Steps

List existing workspaces

View all available workspaces. The asterisk marks the currently selected workspace.

$ terraform workspace list

Create workspaces for each environment

Create separate workspaces for dev, staging, and production environments.

$ terraform workspace new dev && terraform workspace new staging && terraform workspace new prod

Each workspace maintains its own independent state file, so resources are fully isolated.

Switch between workspaces

Select the workspace you want to operate in before running plan or apply.

$ terraform workspace select staging

Use workspace name in configuration

Reference terraform.workspace to parameterize resources per environment.

$ cat <<'EOF' > main.tf locals { env = terraform.workspace } resource "aws_instance" "app" { instance_type = local.env == "prod" ? "t3.large" : "t3.micro" tags = { Environment = local.env } } EOF

Use workspace-specific variable files

Load environment-specific variables automatically based on the active workspace.

$ terraform plan -var-file="envs/${terraform.workspace}.tfvars"

Create envs/dev.tfvars, envs/staging.tfvars, and envs/prod.tfvars with environment-specific values.

Full Script

full-script.sh

#!/bin/bash
set -euo pipefail

# Terraform Workspace Setup Script
# Creates and configures workspaces for multi-environment management

ENVIRONMENTS=("dev" "staging" "prod")

echo "==> Current workspaces:"
terraform workspace list

for ENV in "${ENVIRONMENTS[@]}"; do
  if terraform workspace list | grep -q "\b${ENV}\b"; then
    echo "==> Workspace '${ENV}' already exists, skipping."
  else
    echo "==> Creating workspace '${ENV}'..."
    terraform workspace new "${ENV}"
  fi
done

echo ""
echo "==> All workspaces:"
terraform workspace list

echo ""
echo "==> Switching to dev workspace..."
terraform workspace select dev

echo "==> Initializing in dev workspace..."
terraform init

echo ""
echo "Done. Use 'terraform workspace select <env>' to switch environments."

FAQ

Discussion

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#!/bin/bash set -euo pipefail # Terraform Workspace Setup Script # Creates and configures workspaces for multi-environment management ENVIRONMENTS=("dev" "staging" "prod") echo "==> Current workspaces:" terraform workspace list for ENV in "${ENVIRONMENTS[@]}"; do if terraform workspace list | grep -q "\b${ENV}\b"; then echo "==> Workspace '${ENV}' already exists, skipping." else echo "==> Creating workspace '${ENV}'..." terraform workspace new "${ENV}" fi done echo "" echo "==> All workspaces:" terraform workspace list echo "" echo "==> Switching to dev workspace..." terraform workspace select dev echo "==> Initializing in dev workspace..." terraform init echo "" echo "Done. Use 'terraform workspace select <env>' to switch environments."