Atlantis consulting and hands-on support

Atlantis is an open-source automation server that runs Terraform plans and applies in response to pull requests. It connects repository events with Terraform workflows, posts plan results and status checks to the pull request, and can require approvals before an apply proceeds.

Platform engineering, DevOps, and SRE teams use Atlantis to standardize infrastructure changes across repositories and environments. Its server-side execution, project locking, repository configuration, and pull request history help reduce local-state differences, prevent conflicting applies, and create a traceable workflow around Terraform changes.

• Run Terraform plans automatically when a pull request changes infrastructure code.
• Require reviews or other configured conditions before applying changes to shared environments.
• Lock projects during planning and application to reduce concurrent changes to the same Terraform state.
• Define repository-specific workflows for initialization, validation, planning, policy checks, and application.
• Centralize credentials, state access, and network connectivity on the Atlantis execution environment instead of individual developer workstations.
• Use pull request comments, status checks, execution logs, and Terraform output to support review, troubleshooting, and operational auditing.

Teams use Atlantis to run Terraform plans and applies through pull requests, giving infrastructure changes a consistent review path and an auditable operational record.

• Reviewable infrastructure changes: Atlantis posts Terraform plan output to the pull request, so reviewers can inspect proposed resource changes, variable updates, and replacements before an apply runs.
• Controlled approvals: Teams can require pull request approvals and successful checks before allowing an apply. This keeps production changes within the repository’s existing review and branch protection process.
• Consistent execution: Atlantis runs Terraform from a centrally managed service instead of relying on each engineer’s local credentials, Terraform version, plugins, and environment variables. Teams can define repository-specific workflows for initialization, planning, policy checks, and apply steps.
• State and concurrency protection: Atlantis coordinates plan and apply operations for pull requests and works with Terraform state locking to reduce the risk of overlapping changes against the same state. Teams still need appropriate backend configuration and clear ownership for exceptional unlock or recovery procedures.
• Auditable operations: Pull requests retain the plan output, approvals, apply commands, status checks, and related discussion. This gives operators a searchable record for incident review, change tracking, and compliance evidence.
• Reduced manual access: Engineers can request infrastructure changes without receiving broad direct access to production systems. Repository permissions and the Atlantis server’s cloud credentials can be scoped to the environments and actions that each workflow requires.
• Predictable day-2 operations: Teams can manage Atlantis configuration, Terraform versions, provider credentials, webhook delivery, workspace conventions, and failed plans through documented runbooks. Monitoring the server, execution queue, logs, and repository integrations helps operators detect stalled or incomplete changes.

Our practical experience with Atlantis helps clients run Terraform changes through consistent pull request workflows, with controlled approvals, clear ownership, auditable plan and apply activity, and safer operational handoffs. MeteorOps provides senior engineering capacity embedded with your team to assess the existing workflow, design the integration with your repositories and CI systems, and support reliable day-2 operations without a retainer, lock-in, or fixed-price promise.

Some of the things we did include:

• Assessing repository structure, Terraform module usage, pull request practices, approval requirements, state management, and current automation before introducing Atlantis.
• Designing a reference architecture for Atlantis, repository webhooks, execution environments, credentials, Terraform versions, and integration with your existing Terraform workflows.
• Configuring project-specific workflows for plan and apply operations, including required approvals, apply permissions, workspace selection, parallelism, and handling of dependent infrastructure changes.
• Implementing secure authentication and secret management for repository access, cloud credentials, webhook validation, Atlantis server access, and least-privilege Terraform execution.
• Integrating plan results, status checks, approvals, and apply activity into pull requests so reviewers can inspect proposed infrastructure changes before execution.
• Improving operational visibility with structured logs, health checks, execution tracking, failure handling, and practical alerting for stalled plans, failed applies, webhook problems, and unavailable workers.
• Creating runbooks for workspace locks, failed plans, interrupted applies, credential rotation, Terraform and provider upgrades, repository onboarding, and safe recovery procedures.
• Documenting the workflow and transferring knowledge to platform and infrastructure teams so they can operate Atlantis, add repositories, review changes, and maintain governance controls independently.

Some of the things we can help you do with Atlantis include:

• Assess your current Atlantis setup: Review repository integrations, webhook configuration, server-side settings, project definitions, Terraform versions, workflow customizations, credentials, and operational ownership to identify risks and define a practical roadmap.
• Design an Atlantis architecture: Define deployment topology, repository access, network boundaries, execution environments, workspace conventions, Terraform version management, and scaling requirements for your teams and repositories.
• Implement pull request workflows: Configure Atlantis projects, atlantis.yaml files, automatic plan triggers, apply requirements, plan and apply commands, Terraform workspaces, and repository status checks for consistent infrastructure changes.
• Automate Terraform operations: Connect pull request events to Terraform plans and applies, standardize workflow steps, manage project-level settings, and reduce manual command execution while preserving approval controls.
• Integrate Atlantis with CI/CD: Define clear responsibilities between Atlantis and your existing CI pipelines for validation, formatting, security checks, policy evaluation, plan execution, and apply approval so that each change follows a predictable path.
• Strengthen security and governance: Configure repository allowlists, apply permissions, restricted workflows, sensitive variable handling, cloud credentials, webhook authentication, and separation of duties to control who can plan and apply changes.
• Improve operational visibility: Establish useful logging, metrics, alerts, and ownership for webhook failures, queue activity, failed plans, failed applies, stale locks, execution errors, and service health.
• Plan upgrades and migrations: Upgrade Atlantis, Terraform versions, provider versions, deployment environments, repository integrations, or workflow definitions with compatibility checks, staged rollout plans, and rollback procedures.
• Support day-2 operations: Create runbooks for failed plans and applies, stale pull requests, locked projects, credential rotation, webhook troubleshooting, service recovery, access reviews, and routine configuration changes.