Skip to main content

Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://notes.kodekloud.com/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

In this guide, you’ll learn how to create, select, and manage OpenTofu workspaces to maintain separate state files for multiple deployments of the same configuration. By the end, you’ll deploy a payroll application across three regions—US, UK, and India—using a single Terraform-compatible codebase.

​
Prerequisites

  • OpenTofu CLI installed and available in your PATH.
  • A sample project directory named project-sapphire.
  • Access to an S3-like backend (e.g., LocalStack) for state storage.

​
1. List the Default Workspace

Navigate to your project directory and list available workspaces. By default, OpenTofu starts with the default workspace. 
cd ~/opentofu-projects/project-sapphire/
tofu workspace list
Expected output: 
* default

​
2. Create New Workspaces

Isolate state per region by creating three workspaces: us-payroll, uk-payroll, and india-payroll. 
tofu workspace new us-payroll
tofu workspace new uk-payroll
tofu workspace new india-payroll
Verify: 
tofu workspace list
WorkspaceDescription
defaultDefault environment
us-payrollState for US payroll deployment
uk-payrollState for UK payroll deployment
india-payrollState for India payroll deployment

​
3. Select a Workspace

Switch to the us-payroll workspace before running any commands: 
tofu workspace select us-payroll
# Switched to workspace "us-payroll".

​
4. Understand Workspace State Location

OpenTofu stores each workspace’s state under terraform.tfstate.d/<workspace-name>. For example: 
terraform.tfstate.d/india-payroll/terraform.tfstate
Do not manually edit files in the terraform.tfstate.d/ directory—always use OpenTofu commands to manage state.

​
5. Review the Configuration Files

Your project-sapphire folder should include:
  • variables.tf
  • provider.tf

​
variables.tf

variable "region" {
  type = map(string)
  default = {
    "us-payroll"    = "us-east-1"
    "uk-payroll"    = "eu-west-2"
    "india-payroll" = "ap-south-1"
  }
}

variable "ami" {
  type = map(string)
  default = {
    "us-payroll"    = "ami-24e140119877avm"
    "uk-payroll"    = "ami-351e40119877avm"
    "india-payroll" = "ami-55140119877avm"
  }
}
Quiz:
  • Type of region? A map(string).
  • region["india-payroll"] default? "ap-south-1".
  • ami["india-payroll"] default? "ami-55140119877avm".

​
provider.tf

terraform {
  required_providers {
    aws = {
      source  = "hashicorp/aws"
      version = "5.38.0"
    }
  }
}

provider "aws" {
  region                      = lookup(var.region, terraform.workspace)
  skip_credentials_validation = true
  skip_requesting_account_id  = true
  s3_use_path_style           = true

  endpoints {
    ec2      = "http://aws:4566"
    dynamodb = "http://aws:4566"
    s3       = "http://aws:4566"
  }
}

​
6. Update main.tf to Invoke the Module

Add a module block in main.tf that points to your shared payroll application: 
module "payroll_app" {
  source     = "/root/opentofu-projects/modules/payroll-app"
  app_region = lookup(var.region, terraform.workspace)
  ami        = lookup(var.ami, terraform.workspace)
}

​
7. Initialize OpenTofu

Download providers and modules: 
tofu init

​
8. Apply Configuration Across All Workspaces

Deploy the payroll app in each region:
  1. US Payroll 
    tofu workspace select us-payroll
tofu apply
# Enter "yes" to confirm
  2. UK Payroll 
    tofu workspace select uk-payroll
tofu apply
# Enter "yes" to confirm
  3. India Payroll 
    tofu workspace select india-payroll
tofu apply
# Enter "yes" to confirm

​
Workspace-State Mapping

WorkspaceAWS RegionAMI IDState File Location
us-payrollus-east-1ami-24e140119877avmterraform.tfstate.d/us-payroll/terraform.tfstate
uk-payrolleu-west-2ami-351e40119877avmterraform.tfstate.d/uk-payroll/terraform.tfstate
india-payrollap-south-1ami-55140119877avmterraform.tfstate.d/india-payroll/terraform.tfstate

​
References

Watch Video

Practice Lab