As always, you’ve been asking, and we’ve been listening. I’m sure you’re already very familiar with Blueprints in Spacelift. A Blueprint is like a template for a stack and its configuration. The blueprint contains variables that can be filled in by providing inputs when creating a stack from the Blueprint. The blueprint can also contain a list of other resources that will be created when the stack is created.

This is all well and good, but we really wanted to step it up a notch. And with that being said, I’d like to introduce you to Templates! Templates provide a self-service approach to infrastructure provisioning, making it easier for application developers to deploy infrastructure without deep IaC or Spacelift knowledge. Templates focus on enabling end users to deploy infrastructure through a simplified, form-based interface.

Now, I know what you’re thinking. That kinda sounds like Blueprints. But, while both features enable infrastructure provisioning, they have fundamentally different approaches and serve different use cases:

Blueprints are a creation tool that generates stacks which then live independently:

• Creates stacks that become regular, fully editable Spacelift stacks

• Once created, stacks can be modified manually like any other stack

• No ongoing relationship between the blueprint and the created stacks

• Stacks continue to evolve independently after creation

• Blueprint changes don't affect previously created stacks

Templates are a lifecycle management tool that maintains control over deployed infrastructure:

• Creates stacks through deployments that are fully managed by the template

• Stacks created from templates are immutable - cannot be edited manually, even by admins

• The only way to modify infrastructure is by:

  1. Updating the template deployment to use a different version

  2. Creating a new template version with changes and update deployment to use it

  3. Modifying deployment inputs

• Deployments maintain a permanent link to the template version

• Templates ensure consistency across all deployments

There are 2 main interfaces for Templates. The Templates Workbench is designed for platform teams and template authors. The Templates List is designed for application developers and end users.

Templates are now available for any customers with Business plans and above!

For more information, check out the documentation. And be sure to let us know how it goes. Your feedback is important to us!