Stage 4: Adoption of Open Source Modules

Developers begin their Terraform journey by often crafting their own modules. But as they research how to accomplish various things with Terraform, they usually stumble across one of Cloud Posse's hundreds of terraform modules. Then it dawns on them that they could avoid reinventing the wheel by using these modules instead.

1. Developers, initially crafting bespoke modules, discover hundreds of freely available open-source Terraform modules.
2. With the recognition of high-quality, well-maintained open-source modules, developers start to replace their custom solutions (like VPCs and clusters) with those from the community, streamlining their infrastructure code.
3. The switch to open-source modules often leads to pull requests that dramatically reduce the complexity and lines of code, sometimes cutting out hundreds or even thousands of lines, to the team's astonishment and delight.

New Problems

1. Now, you need to stay up-to-date with the latest changes in the modules.
2. The scope of the monolithic "root module" is at a tipping point.
3. Code is a mishmash of different styles, naming conventions, and approaches.

Realization

Developers recognize the pitfalls of having so much code one root module, especially after moving to using open source modules.

They realize the time has come to do a refactor, decomposing the monolithic root module into smaller, more manageable pieces.

Try Atmos!