Dry-run on Terraform Building Blocks
complete
M
Mohammad Alhussan
I would like to have the ability to perform "dry-run" executions on Terraform building blocks. This would allow me to preview the output of
terraform plan
before executing an actual terraform apply
.This feature would be especially useful in scenarios such as:
- Upgrading building blocks: Validate changes introduced by version updates before applying them.
- Testing inputs: Confirm that inputs to a module behave as expected.
Essentially getting insights on potential changes without affecting infrastructure.
Andreas Grub
Update — June 2026
We wanted to share where things stand ahead of our public demo on June 17th.
What's shipping in this cycle:
The ability to manually trigger a dry run is now available for building blocks using the Terraform runner. Custom runners can also support dry runs if they implement the run behavior protocol that is passed to them during execution. The dry run executes the full Terraform plan but does not persist any outputs and does not trigger dependent building blocks, so it is safe to run at any time.
Alongside this, the building block list and detail view received a significant overhaul. You will now see a dedicated runs table with status icons and trigger information. Dry runs are visually distinguished from regular runs throughout the view.
One more thing worth mentioning: when a building block is deleted, it remains visible in the list in a deleted state, and its full run history stays accessible.
What is not yet in this cycle:
Triggering a dry run as part of an upgrade flow is not included. Platform operators also cannot yet define policies for when changes require approval before being applied. These two capabilities are the main focus of the next cycle, and we are committed to delivering them.
Thanks for your patience and for voting on this. We will post another update after the next cycle.
Janny the AI Product Manager
This has been shipped in
meshStack v2026.24.0
(June 2026)!- Dry runs are now available for OpenTofu/Terraform building blockswithout a feature flag.
- You can trigger a dry run manually from the UI to preview what changes would be applied without executing them.
- You can also trigger dry runs via the meshBuildingBlock v2-preview API using dryRun: truein thetrigger-runrequest body.
- A bug fix ensures dry runs no longer reset a building block's status or overwrite its outputs.
Thank you for the feedback!
Janny the AI Product Manager
updated the status to
complete
Janny the AI Product Manager
Bug fix shipped in meshStack v2026.24.0
(June 2026)We fixed a regression where building block dry runs were incorrectly changing the building block's status. Dry runs are now truly read-only and will not mutate any building block state.
See the full release notes: meshStack v2026.24.0
Andreas Grub
Update — June 2026
We wanted to share where things stand ahead of our public demo on June 17th.
What's shipping in this cycle:
The ability to manually trigger a dry run is now available for building blocks using the Terraform runner. Custom runners can also support dry runs if they implement the run behavior protocol that is passed to them during execution. The dry run executes the full Terraform plan but does not persist any outputs and does not trigger dependent building blocks, so it is safe to run at any time.
Alongside this, the building block list and detail view received a significant overhaul. You will now see a dedicated runs table with status icons and trigger information. Dry runs are visually distinguished from regular runs throughout the view.
One more thing worth mentioning: when a building block is deleted, it remains visible in the list in a deleted state, and its full run history stays accessible.
What is not yet in this cycle:
Triggering a dry run as part of an upgrade flow is not included. Platform operators also cannot yet define policies for when changes require approval before being applied. These two capabilities are the main focus of the next cycle, and we are committed to delivering them.
Thanks for your patience and for voting on this. We will post another update after the next cycle.
Jelle den Burger
updated the status to
in progress
L
Lars Töpfer
Hello everyone,
This crucial feature has been suggested for almost a year now, yet it still hasn’t been implemented.
I keep realising just how important a feature like this would be.
Surely it can’t be that much effort to implement a button like this and add the "tofu plan" command to it ...
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Jelle den Burger
Lars Töpfer: Hi Lars, I'm actually happy to mention we are in the middle of working on this. Sorry for not updating this particular feature request.
R
Rebecca
Thank you so much for taking the time to share your idea! Feel free to share the canny link with others to receive more votes for your idea.