What is Terraform Workspaces?

Question

Accepted Answer

**Terraform Workspaces** — a way to manage **multiple environments** (dev, staging, prod) from a single codebase.

**Simple analogy:** Workspaces are like pages in an Excel file. You have one file (code), but different pages (workspace) for dev, staging, and prod.

**How it works:**
```bash
# Create workspace
terraform workspace new dev
terraform workspace new staging
terraform workspace new prod

# Switch
terraform workspace select dev

# View current
terraform workspace show

# List all
terraform workspace list

# Delete
terraform workspace delete staging
```

**Usage in code:**
```hcl
resource "aws_instance" "web" {
  instance_type = terraform.workspace == "prod" ? "t3.large" : "t3.micro"
  tags = {
    Environment = terraform.workspace
  }
}
```

**Alternative — directory-based:**
```
infrastructure/
  dev/
    main.tf
  staging/
    main.tf
  prod/
    main.tf
```

**Workspaces vs Directory-based:**
- Workspaces: single configuration file, state is separated by workspace.
- Directory: separate configurations for each environment.
- Recommendation: use **directory-based** for production (more flexible and secure).

DevOps: What is Terraform Workspaces?