Configure Atmos CLI

In the previous step, we've decided on the following:

Use a monorepo to configure and provision two Terraform components into three AWS accounts and two AWS regions
The filesystem layout for the infrastructure monorepo
To be able to use Component Remote State, we put the atmos.yaml CLI config file into /usr/local/etc/atmos/atmos.yaml folder and set the ENV var ATMOS_BASE_PATH to point to the absolute path of the root of the repo

Next step is to configure atmos.yaml.

atmos.yaml configuration file is used to control the behavior of the atmos CLI. The file supports many features that are configured in different sections of the atmos.yaml file. For the description of all the sections, refer to CLI Configuration.

For the purpose of this Quick Start, below is the minimum configuration required for Atmos to work with Terraform and to configure Atmos components and Atmos stacks. Copy the YAML config below into your atmos.yaml file.

atmos.yaml

# CLI config is loaded from the following locations (from lowest to highest priority):
# system dir ('/usr/local/etc/atmos' on Linux, '%LOCALAPPDATA%/atmos' on Windows)
# home dir (~/.atmos)
# current directory
# ENV vars
# Command-line arguments
#
# It supports POSIX-style Globs for file names/paths (double-star '**' is supported)
# https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glob_(programming)

# Base path for components, stacks and workflows configurations.
# Can also be set using 'ATMOS_BASE_PATH' ENV var, or '--base-path' command-line argument.
# Supports both absolute and relative paths.
# If not provided or is an empty string, 'components.terraform.base_path', 'components.helmfile.base_path', 'stacks.base_path'
# and 'workflows.base_path' are independent settings (supporting both absolute and relative paths).
# If 'base_path' is provided, 'components.terraform.base_path', 'components.helmfile.base_path', 'stacks.base_path'
# and 'workflows.base_path' are considered paths relative to 'base_path'.
base_path: ""

components:
  terraform:
    # Can also be set using 'ATMOS_COMPONENTS_TERRAFORM_BASE_PATH' ENV var, or '--terraform-dir' command-line argument
    # Supports both absolute and relative paths
    base_path: "components/terraform"
    # Can also be set using 'ATMOS_COMPONENTS_TERRAFORM_APPLY_AUTO_APPROVE' ENV var
    apply_auto_approve: false
    # Can also be set using 'ATMOS_COMPONENTS_TERRAFORM_DEPLOY_RUN_INIT' ENV var, or '--deploy-run-init' command-line argument
    deploy_run_init: true
    # Can also be set using 'ATMOS_COMPONENTS_TERRAFORM_INIT_RUN_RECONFIGURE' ENV var, or '--init-run-reconfigure' command-line argument
    init_run_reconfigure: true
    # Can also be set using 'ATMOS_COMPONENTS_TERRAFORM_AUTO_GENERATE_BACKEND_FILE' ENV var, or '--auto-generate-backend-file' command-line argument
    auto_generate_backend_file: true

stacks:
  # Can also be set using 'ATMOS_STACKS_BASE_PATH' ENV var, or '--config-dir' and '--stacks-dir' command-line arguments
  # Supports both absolute and relative paths
  base_path: "stacks"
  # Can also be set using 'ATMOS_STACKS_INCLUDED_PATHS' ENV var (comma-separated values string)
  included_paths:
    - "orgs/**/*"
  # Can also be set using 'ATMOS_STACKS_EXCLUDED_PATHS' ENV var (comma-separated values string)
  excluded_paths:
    - "**/_defaults.yaml"
  # Can also be set using 'ATMOS_STACKS_NAME_PATTERN' ENV var
  name_pattern: "{tenant}-{environment}-{stage}"

workflows:
  # Can also be set using 'ATMOS_WORKFLOWS_BASE_PATH' ENV var, or '--workflows-dir' command-line arguments
  # Supports both absolute and relative paths
  base_path: "stacks/workflows"

logs:
  # Can also be set using 'ATMOS_LOGS_FILE' ENV var, or '--logs-file' command-line argument
  # File or standard file descriptor to write logs to
  # Logs can be written to any file or any standard file descriptor, including `/dev/stdout`, `/dev/stderr` and `/dev/null`
  file: "/dev/stderr"
  # Supported log levels: Trace, Debug, Info, Warning, Off
  # Can also be set using 'ATMOS_LOGS_LEVEL' ENV var, or '--logs-level' command-line argument
  level: Info

# Custom CLI commands
commands: []

# Integrations
integrations: {}

# Validation schemas (for validating atmos stacks and components)
schemas:
  # https://json-schema.org
  jsonschema:
    # Can also be set using 'ATMOS_SCHEMAS_JSONSCHEMA_BASE_PATH' ENV var, or '--schemas-jsonschema-dir' command-line arguments
    # Supports both absolute and relative paths
    base_path: "stacks/schemas/jsonschema"
  # https://www.openpolicyagent.org
  opa:
    # Can also be set using 'ATMOS_SCHEMAS_OPA_BASE_PATH' ENV var, or '--schemas-opa-dir' command-line arguments
    # Supports both absolute and relative paths
    base_path: "stacks/schemas/opa"
  # JSON Schema to validate Atmos manifests
  # https://atmos.tools/cli/schemas/
  # https://atmos.tools/cli/commands/validate/stacks/
  # https://atmos.tools/quick-start/advanced/configure-validation/
  # https://atmos.tools/schemas/atmos/atmos-manifest/1.0/atmos-manifest.json
  # https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/release-notes
  atmos:
    # Can also be set using 'ATMOS_SCHEMAS_ATMOS_MANIFEST' ENV var, or '--schemas-atmos-manifest' command-line arguments
    # Supports both absolute and relative paths (relative to the `base_path` setting in `atmos.yaml`)
    manifest: "stacks/schemas/atmos/atmos-manifest/1.0/atmos-manifest.json"

The atmos.yaml configuration file defines the following sections.

NOTE: below is the description of the sections relevant to this Quick Start guide. For the description of all the sections, refer to CLI Configuration.

base_path: The base path for components, stacks and workflows configurations. We set it to ./ so it will use the current working directory. Alternatively, we can override this behavior by setting the ENV var ATMOS_BASE_PATH to point to another directory location.
components.terraform.base_path: The base path to the Terraform components (Terraform root modules). As described in Configure Repository, we've decided to put the Terraform components into the components/terraform directory, and this setting tells Atmos where to find them. Atmos will join the base path (set in the ATMOS_BASE_PATH ENN var) with components.terraform.base_path to calculate the final path to the Terraform components.
components.terraform.apply_auto_approve: If set to true, Atmos automatically adds the -auto-approve option to instruct Terraform to apply the plan without asking for confirmation when executing terraform apply command.
components.terraform.deploy_run_init: If set to true, Atmos runs terraform init before executing atmos terraform deploy command.
components.terraform.init_run_reconfigure: If set to true, Atmos automatically adds the -reconfigure option to update the backend configuration when executing terraform init command.
components.terraform.auto_generate_backend_file: If set to true, Atmos automatically generates the Terraform backend file from the component configuration when executing terraform plan and terraform apply commands.
stacks.base_path: The base path to the Atmos stacks. As described in Configure Repository, we've decided to put the stack configurations into the stacks directory, and this setting tells Atmos where to find them. Atmos will join the base path (set in the ATMOS_BASE_PATH ENN var) with stacks.base_path to calculate the final path to the stacks.
stacks.included_paths: List of file paths to the top-level stacks in the stacks directory to include in search when Atmos searches for the stack where the component is defined when executing atmos commands.
stacks.excluded_paths: List of file paths to the top-level stacks in the stacks directory to exclude from search when Atmos searches for the stack where the component is defined when executing atmos commands.
stacks.name_pattern: Atmos stack name pattern. When executing atmos commands, Atmos does not use the configuration file names and their filesystem locations to search for the stack where the component is defined. Instead, Atmos uses the context variables (namespace, tenant, environment, stage) to search for the stack. The stack config file names can be anything, and they can be in any folder in any sub-folder in the stacks directory. For example, when executing the atmos terraform apply vpc -s tenant1-ue2-dev command, the stack tenant1-ue2-dev is specified by the -s flag. By looking at name_pattern: "{tenant}-{environment}-{stage}" and processing the tokens, Atmos knows that the first part of the stack name is tenant, the second part is environment, and the third part is stage. Then Atmos searches for the stack configuration file (in the stacks directory) where tenant: tenant1, environment: ue2 and stage: dev are defined (inline or via imports).
workflows.base_path: The base path to Atmos Workflows files.
logs.verbose: Set to true to increase log verbosity. When set to true, Atmos prints to the console all the steps it takes to find and process the atmos.yaml CLI config file, and all the steps it takes to find the stack and find and process the component in the stack.
commands: Configuration for Atmos Custom Commands.
schemas: See JSON Schema and OPA Policy configurations for: Atmos Schema Validation, Atmos Custom Validation.