April 2022 Summaries

In September 2021, Hashicorp introduced Terraform RunTasks, a beta feature designed to incorporate third-party tools into the Terraform Cloud workflow, allowing users to perform additional checks on their Terraform code without leaving the platform. Positioned between the Plan and Apply stages, RunTasks enables checks related to security, costs, and policies, benefiting both Hashicorp by expanding its Infrastructure as Code capabilities and the ecosystem by integrating various third-party features. To utilize RunTasks, users need the appropriate permissions within their Terraform organization and workspace, and it is currently available in Hashicorp's paid Terraform products. The integration process involves setting up a hook endpoint URL and an HMAC key with the third-party tool, which then communicates results back to Terraform Cloud. The current partners for RunTasks include Infracost, Snyk, Bridgecrew, Kion, Lightlytics, and Moderne, each offering unique functionalities such as cost prediction, security checks, cloud management, and best practices recommendations.

Infracost v0.9.21 introduces several enhancements, including the integration of cost policies into the CLI and pull request comments, which aids DevOps and FinOps teams in avoiding costly mistakes and budget overruns. The update also includes improved parsing of HCL, making the CLI faster and easier to integrate into CI/CD systems while addressing issues reported across AWS, Azure, and Google platforms. Support for new resources has been added, such as AWS Network Firewall and Google VPC Service Network Connections, and the Jenkins and CircleCI integrations have been updated to align with GitHub Actions and GitLab features, with the deprecation of older bash-based integrations. Usability improvements include setting the default log level to "info" in CI/CD and adding new flags for Terraform commands, along with resolving Slack integration issues. The community continues to grow, celebrating 6,000 GitHub stars, with numerous contributors recognized for their efforts in advancing the platform and sharing insights on cost visibility and DevOps tools.