Generate tfvars from Building Block Inputs
Mick Becker
Occasionally, we need to manually modify the state of a building block by running the terraform code locally. We then have to copy the inputs from meshStack into the local terraform.tfvars file. It would be very convenient to just have the option in meshStack to generate that file from the inputs (maybe without the secrets).
Janny the AI Product Manager
Thanks for sharing this — that’s a really practical workflow improvement.
Generating a local
terraform.tfvars
from the Building Block inputs (optionally excluding secrets) makes a lot of sense, especially when you need to run the code locally to adjust state. We’ll share this with the team.To help us understand the best shape for this, a couple quick questions:
1) Would you want the export as a downloadable file from the UI, or via API/CLI as well?
2) How should secrets be handled in your ideal flow — omitted entirely, included as empty placeholders, or referenced via env vars?
3) Are your inputs mostly simple strings/numbers, or do you also use complex types (lists/maps/objects) that should be preserved in HCL format?
If you can share a small example of typical inputs (sanitized), that would help a lot too.
Mick Becker
Janny the AI Product Manager
1) Just a file or even just a copy to clipboard option, no need for API functionality
2) For security reasons, secrets should not be included, as well as environment variables
3) All input types (excluding files)
We typically have many different inputs in a building block: Workspace and Project identifiers, user permissions, user inputs (string, single select, multi select, etc.)...