OpenTofu Workspaces

Every OpenTofu configuration uses a state file to track and manage resources. By default, there’s a single workspace named default. To create multiple environments (for example, development and production) from the same configuration directory, you can use workspaces to isolate state files.

Listing the Default Workspace

Run:

$ tofu workspace list
* default

The asterisk (*) indicates the currently active workspace.

Creating and Switching Workspaces

Create and switch to new workspaces:

$ tofu workspace new production
Created and switched to workspace "production"!

$ tofu workspace new development
Created and switched to workspace "development"!

Each workspace has its own isolated state. New workspaces start empty until you run tofu apply.

Listing again shows the active workspace:

$ tofu workspace list
default
production
* development

Workspace Commands Reference

Command	Description
`tofu workspace list`	List all available workspaces
`tofu workspace new <name>`	Create and switch to a new workspace
`tofu workspace select <name>`	Switch to an existing workspace

Using Workspaces in Configuration

Suppose your project directory at /root/opentofu/projects/webserver defines an AWS EC2 instance. You need:

Development: t2.micro
Production: m5.large
Region: ca-central-1
AMI: same for both environments

The image shows a directory structure for a Terraform project named "my-application" with files like variables.tf, main.tf, and terraform.tfstate. It also displays configurations for two environments, "development" and "production," specifying region, AMI, and instance type.

Update variables.tf to define instance_type as a map:

variable "ami" {
  default = "ami-24e140119877avm"
}

variable "region" {
  default = "ca-central-1"
}

variable "instance_type" {
  type = map(string)
  default = {
    development = "t2.micro"
    production  = "m5.large"
  }
}

In main.tf, use lookup with terraform.workspace and add dynamic tags:

resource "aws_instance" "webserver" {
  ami           = var.ami
  instance_type = lookup(var.instance_type, terraform.workspace)
  tags = {
    Environment = terraform.workspace
  }
}

Verifying Workspace Values

Open the OpenTofu console to inspect workspace-specific values:

$ tofu console
> terraform.workspace
development
> lookup(var.instance_type, terraform.workspace)
t2.micro

$ tofu workspace select production
> terraform.workspace
production
> lookup(var.instance_type, terraform.workspace)
m5.large

Applying Changes per Workspace

In the development workspace:

$ tofu workspace select development
$ tofu apply

OpenTofu will plan:

  # aws_instance.webserver will be created
  + resource "aws_instance" "webserver" {
      + ami           = "ami-24e140119877avm"
      + instance_type = "t2.micro"
      + tags = {
          + "Environment" = "development"
        }
    }

Switch to production and apply:

$ tofu workspace select production
$ tofu apply

OpenTofu will plan:

  # aws_instance.webserver will be created
  + resource "aws_instance" "webserver" {
      + ami           = "ami-24e140119877avm"
      + instance_type = "m5.large"
      + tags = {
          + "Environment" = "production"
        }
    }

Local State File Organization

When using local state, OpenTofu organizes workspace-specific state under terraform.tfstate.d:

$ ls
main.tf    provider.tf    terraform.tfstate.d    variables.tf

$ tree terraform.tfstate.d/
terraform.tfstate.d/
├── development
│   └── terraform.tfstate
└── production
    └── terraform.tfstate

2 directories, 2 files

Each subdirectory holds the terraform.tfstate file for its workspace. That’s it for this lesson. See you in the next one!

Course Introduction

Introduction to Infrastructure as Code

OpenTofu Basics

OpenTofu State

Working with OpenTofu

Remote State

OpenTofu Provisioners

OpenTofu Import, Tainting Resources and Deubugging

OpenTofu Modules

OpenTofu Functions and Conditional Expressions

OpenTofu: Beyond Basics

Course Conclusion

Getting Started with OpenTofu

OpenTofu Workspaces

Listing the Default Workspace

Creating and Switching Workspaces

Workspace Commands Reference

Using Workspaces in Configuration

Verifying Workspace Values

Applying Changes per Workspace

Local State File Organization

Watch Video

​Listing the Default Workspace

​Creating and Switching Workspaces

​Workspace Commands Reference

​Using Workspaces in Configuration

​Verifying Workspace Values

​Applying Changes per Workspace

​Local State File Organization

Watch Video

Listing the Default Workspace

Creating and Switching Workspaces

Workspace Commands Reference

Using Workspaces in Configuration

Verifying Workspace Values

Applying Changes per Workspace

Local State File Organization