Core concepts

An organization holds a team’s stacks, access rules, runner groups, and integrations.

A stack is one OpenTofu root module and one state. It points to a repository, a branch, and a directory in that repository.

A deployment is a workflow against a stack. A normal deployment plans first, waits for approval when it finds changes, and then applies the saved plan.

A run is one command inside a deployment. Plan and apply are separate runs.

A runner group decides where runs execute. Stack labels can choose a group. If there is no match, the stack uses the organization’s default group.

A context is a shared set of variables and hooks. Several stacks can use the same context.

A dependency connects a stack or resource to infrastructure managed by another stack. It can be declared in code or inferred from cloud resource use. Its trigger policy decides whether a later deployment is automatic, manual, or only shown.

Only one deployment that can change state runs on a stack at a time. Later deployments wait in order. Pull request previews and local plans do not change state, so they can run at the same time.