cicd infrastructure ai_generated true

Error: Plan approval required. Terraform detected changes that require approval before applying.

ID: cicd/terraform-plan-diff

Also available as: JSON · Markdown
85%Fix Rate
88%Confidence
50Evidence
2023-01-01First Seen

Version Compatibility

VersionStatusIntroducedDeprecatedNotes
any active — — —

Root Cause

Terraform plan detected infrastructure changes that differ from the current state. In CI, this often blocks auto-apply pipelines. Caused by manual changes to infrastructure (drift), state file desync, or legitimate code changes requiring review.

generic

Workarounds

  1. 90% success Review the plan output and approve intentional changes 
    Run terraform plan -out=plan.tfplan to save the plan. Review the output carefully. If changes are intentional, apply with terraform apply plan.tfplan. In CI, post the plan as a PR comment for team review before applying.
  2. 85% success Import or refresh state to resolve drift from manual changes 
    If changes are due to manual modifications: terraform import <resource> <id> for new resources. terraform refresh to update state to match actual infrastructure. Use terraform state commands to reconcile.

Dead Ends

Common approaches that don't work:

  1. Auto-applying terraform without reviewing the plan in production 75% fail

    Unreviewed auto-apply can destroy or modify production resources. Destructive changes (replace, destroy) are especially dangerous without human review.

  2. Ignoring plan diffs and merging without resolving drift 70% fail

    Infrastructure drift compounds over time. Future plans become increasingly large and confusing, making it harder to determine which changes are intentional.

Error Chain

Leads to:
Preceded by:
Frequently confused with: