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Templates

In InfraKitchen, Templates define the organizational structure and meta-information for your infrastructure components. They establish hierarchical relationships between different infrastructure elements and provide the framework for provisioning actual resources.

Templates are abstract definitions that become concrete when you create Resources from them using Source Code Versions. Think of templates as recipes in your infrastructure kitchen—they define what can be built, but not the actual infrastructure itself.

📋 Template Properties

Each template in InfraKitchen contains the following core properties:

Property Description Notes
Name Human-readable display name E.g., "AWS VPC", "EKS Cluster"
Template Key Unique, immutable identifier Lowercase, alphanumeric with underscores
Description Detailed information about the template Markdown supported
Status Current state of the template enabled or disabled
Abstract Whether template can be instantiated If true, serves only as a parent
Parents Templates this template depends on Hierarchical relationships
Children Templates that depend on this template Hierarchical relationships
Cloud Resource Types Types of cloud resources managed E.g., aws_vpc, azurerm_resource_group
Labels Tags for organizing and filtering E.g., aws, networking, production
Revision Number Version tracking for template changes Auto-incremented on updates

🌳 Template Hierarchies

Templates support parent-child relationships that mirror your infrastructure dependencies. This allows you to establish logical groupings and enforce provisioning order.

Example Hierarchy:

Text Only
AWS Account (abstract)
  ↓
AWS Regional Environment
  ↓
AWS VPC
  ↓
EKS Cluster
  ↓
Kubernetes Namespace

Hierarchy Rules:

  • A template cannot be both a parent and child of the same template (no circular dependencies)
  • Abstract templates can only serve as parents and cannot be instantiated as resources
  • Disabled templates cannot be used as parents or children
  • Deleting a template with children is not allowed

➕ Creating Templates

Templates can be created in two primary ways:

1. Import from Repository

Import a template directly from a Git repository containing Infrastructure as Code. InfraKitchen will automatically analyze the code and create both the template and its first source code version.

Steps:

  1. Navigate to Templates in the sidebar
  2. Click Import
  3. Select template type (currently OpenTofu/Terraform)
  4. Configure Git source (integration, repository, folder, branch)
  5. Add metadata (name, description, labels, parents)
  6. Click Import

Import Process

Importing may take a few minutes as InfraKitchen clones the repository, analyzes the code, extracts variables and outputs, and creates the template with its source code version.

2. Manual Creation

Create a template from scratch by defining all properties manually. This is useful when you want to establish the organizational structure before adding infrastructure code.

Steps:

  1. Navigate to Templates in the sidebar
  2. Click Create
  3. Fill in required fields (name, template key, description)
  4. Configure optional properties (parents, children, labels, cloud resource types)
  5. Check Abstract if the template should not be instantiated directly
  6. Click Save

🔧 Managing Templates

Template Details

Click View Details on any template to see comprehensive information organized into sections:

Section Content
Overview Status, abstract flag, creation info, labels, parent/child relationships
Resources All resource instances created from this template
Input Variables Aggregated variables from source code versions with types and descriptions
Output Values Available outputs after resource provisioning
Tree View Visual hierarchy showing parents (upward) or children (downward)

Updating Templates

Template metadata can be modified after creation, with some important constraints:

  • Updates increment the revision number
  • Template key is immutable and cannot be changed
  • Parent/child relationship changes affect hierarchy but not existing resources

Disabling Templates

Disabling prevents new resources from being created but doesn't affect existing ones.

Effects of disabling:

  • Cannot create new resources from this template
  • Cannot be selected as parent or child for other templates
  • Can be re-enabled later
  • Existing resources remain functional

Deleting Templates

Templates must be disabled before deletion and cannot be deleted if they have:

  • Child templates
  • Existing resources
  • Associated source code versions

Permanent Deletion

Template deletion is permanent and cannot be undone. Handle all dependencies first.

🔗 Integration with Other Features

Template Variables and Source Code Versions

Templates don't contain executable code directly. Instead, they're associated with Source Code Versions that contain:

  • Infrastructure as Code (OpenTofu/Terraform) modules
  • Variable definitions
  • Output definitions
  • Provisioning logic

A single template can have multiple source code versions, allowing you to:

  • Support different implementations
  • Version infrastructure code independently
  • Test new versions before making them default

Templates and Resources

Resources are concrete instances of templates. Each resource:

  • References exactly one template
  • Uses a source code version associated with that template
  • Inherits the template's hierarchical structure
  • Can only have parents matching the template's parent templates

🔐 Template Permissions

Template actions are controlled by user permissions:

Action Permission Required
View All authenticated users
Create Template create permission
Edit Admin permission on the template
Disable/Enable Admin permission on the template
Delete Admin permission on the template

Permissions are inherited from the organization's role-based access control (RBAC) configuration.