Support for native remote plan triggering
It would be nice if Spacelift, via the Spacelift backend, could natively support triggering a remote plan run using the relevant terraform or tofu command, similarly to what TFC and Env0 support.
In other platforms, assuming you have the correct backend configured and have run the correct terraform login command then you can run `terraform plan` from a local machine and have it trigger a remote run of the plan and stream the logs back to the local instance.
- Workaround
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Comments10
Beige Celestial
May 2, 2025
A use-case that have been identified since this was posted is ability to run local plans, without affecting the private runners. For development purpose, its often enough to run multiple local preview (running locally), before submitting PRs, which is then running proposed plans in private runners.
Black Breeze
Jun 8, 2025
This you can do already.
Black Breeze
May 10, 2025
Thanks for posting this! Quick question—did Local Preview solve what you were originally trying to do? Or is there still something missing that requires running local commands against the state?
We’d love to understand the job behind this better. For example, are you trying to inspect resources, debug drift, test a terraform console query, or something else?
Getting clearer on the outcome you’re after will help us figure out whether there’s a gap in visibility, trust, or tooling—and whether it’s something we already support in another way.
Black Breeze
May 10, 2025
Thanks for the feedback! Curious to dig a bit deeper: when you say “native remote plan triggering,” what job are you really trying to do?
We support remote triggering today via spacectl, which is scriptable, API-driven, and audit-logged—so we’d love to understand what “native” means in your context. Is it about visibility in the UI? Reducing glue code? Matching a Terraform Cloud-style workflow? Something else?
The more we understand the job you’re trying to get done—or the friction you’re hitting—the better we can shape a useful path forward. 🙌
Beige Celestial
Jun 6, 2025
This suggestion is similar to what I requested here too:
https://feedback.spacelift.io/p/add-better-support-for-local-commands-against-remote-state
I’m not sure if you can “merge” these feature requests?
As others have said, when working with Terraform Cloud, you are more used to the native cli workflow. It would also allow running local plans against the managed state. This is useful when you need to develop and plan features, while not blocking the private runners with plans that somewhat likely to fail, as this is typically before creating a PR.
It would be nice if we could use the private runners (or hosted runners for that matter) against PR plans and tracked runs (tf apply) exclusively.
Beige Celestial
Jun 3, 2025
Its quite cumbersome having to work with both spacectl and the tasks in browser UI, instead of just allowing a run to work against the remote state (this is possible on Terraform Cloud, so should be easy enough).
The biggest impact for me would be able to utilize this for the console aspect - but in reality this is useful in many other aspects - for example running plans with a known state, without having to put pressure on the private or public runnners.