FR: only auto-apply default branch

[pat-s]

In TF cloud the default is to only run "auto apply" on the default branch, i.e. runs triggered from PRs only do a speculative plan.

This is indeed very good and important when working with PRs/reviews as otherwise these would be auto-applied on first push otherwise.

Also, when having auto-apply off, one is currently always required to go to OTF and explicitly apply a run on the default branch - which sometimes should just apply silently in the background.

[leg100]

Hello @pat-s, could you elaborate further? I'm not sure what it is you're requesting.

Also, when having auto-apply off, one is currently always required to go to OTF and explicitly apply a run on the default branch - which sometimes should just apply silently in the background.

Is this not what you would expect? If auto-apply is off then one has to manually apply a run.

[pat-s]

I guess in a nutshell: make it configurable which branches use auto-apply.

Background: I would like to have auto-apply on the default branch (e.g. when merging PRs or pushing directly to it) and have plan-only runs on all other branches.
Otherwise feature branches would directly apply resource changes on push, which is not desired.

The above is also the (default ?) behavior in TFC.

[leg100]

How about: add the ability to set the default branch?

TFC gives you this option:

Applies are only permitted on that branch.

[pat-s]

Applies are only permitted on that branch.

I think it would be great not to be too strict, i.e. applies should be possible on non-default branches but by default only to a plan-only run.

In some scenarios we do applies on feature-branches to see if something is working out and then just redeploy main to get back to our "sweet spot" (in our dev environment). I think this is quite common workflow approach.

So summarizing it again, my proposal is as follows:

• Have auto-apply only enabled for the default branch
• Do plan-only runs on non-default branches
• Allow/do not block applies on non-default branches

[leg100]

This PR is still unclear in my mind. The title is "FR: only auto-apply default branch". But this is how OTF currently works: if auto-apply is enabled on a workspace, then it'll take effect only on the default branch.

Then you say "I guess in a nutshell: make it configurable which branches use auto-apply.". But that is the opposite of what you ask for in the PR title.

And lastly you propose:

• Have auto-apply only enabled for the default branch
• Do plan-only runs on non-default branches
• Allow/do not block applies on non-default branches

Again, the current behaviour of OTF already matches your first two proposals.

So, to cut this PR down to what it is proposing to change, is it just?:

• Allow/do not block applies on non-default branches

[pat-s]

Sorry for the confusion!

if auto-apply is enabled on a workspace, then it'll take effect only on the default branch.

Correct, for all other branches, no run is started or can even be triggered from the UI. Only from local applies. I can't recall my thought process of the previous comments anymore 😅

Allow/do not block applies on non-default branches

This is definitely something that would be great to have. I agree the FR could be changed to this.

Coupled with this comes the wish of being able to auto-run "plan-only" runs on pushes to non-default branches.

I guess it makes more sense to close this issue and open one (or two) new ones with a clear description based on the wishes of this comment of mine?

[leg100]

I guess it makes more sense to close this issue and open one (or two) new ones with a clear description based on the wishes of this comment of mine?

Yes, I think that would make sense.