The latest articles on DEV Community by Sawyer Jenkins (@sawyer_dev). https://dev.to/sawyer_dev https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F4210944%2Fcd24b508-c4e6-4dc9-a0a9-75befc059fea.jpg https://dev.to/sawyer_dev en Sawyer Jenkins Tue, 27 Oct 2026 15:23:19 +0000 https://dev.to/sawyer_dev/our-terraform-drift-check-runs-in-40-seconds-121m https://dev.to/sawyer_dev/our-terraform-drift-check-runs-in-40-seconds-121m <p>For a long time, drift detection meant a nightly <code>terraform plan</code> that took 20 minutes and got ignored.</p> <p>We split the state into small stacks, cached the providers, and now the plan finishes in about 40 seconds. Suddenly people actually read it.</p> <p>A few details that mattered:</p> <ul> <li> <code>-refresh=false</code> for the quick check, full refresh only on demand</li> <li>Pin provider versions (the surprise upgrades were painful)</li> <li>Fail CI only on <em>unexpected</em> drift, not on known pending changes</li> </ul> <p>Boring infrastructure is a feature. I'll take a 40-second plan over a heroic migration any day.</p> devops terraform aws