Atlantis Management Skill

Manage and inspect Atlantis PR-based Terraform automation, projects, and workflows.

MANDATORY: Discovery-First Pattern

Always check server status and active locks before triggering plans or applies.

Phase 1: Discovery

#!/bin/bash

echo "=== Atlantis Server Status ==="
curl -s "${ATLANTIS_URL}/status" 2>/dev/null | jq '.' || \
curl -s "${ATLANTIS_URL}/healthz" 2>/dev/null

echo ""
echo "=== Active Locks ==="
curl -s -H "X-Atlantis-Token: $ATLANTIS_TOKEN" \
    "${ATLANTIS_URL}/api/locks" 2>/dev/null | jq '
    .[] | {
        repo: .repo_full_name,
        workspace: .workspace,
        pull_num: .pull.num,
        locked_by: .pull.author,
        time: .time
    }
' | head -30

echo ""
echo "=== Server Configuration ==="
curl -s "${ATLANTIS_URL}/api/server-config" 2>/dev/null | jq '{
    allow_fork_prs: .allow_fork_prs,
    auto_merge: .auto_merge,
    default_tf_version: .default_tf_version,
    repo_allowlist: .repo_allowlist
}' 2>/dev/null || echo "Server config API not available"

Core Helper Functions

#!/bin/bash

# Atlantis API wrapper
atlantis_api() {
    local method="${1:-GET}"
    local endpoint="$2"
    local data="${3:-}"

    if [ -n "$data" ]; then
        curl -s -X "$method" \
            -H "X-Atlantis-Token: $ATLANTIS_TOKEN" \
            -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
            "${ATLANTIS_URL}/api/${endpoint}" \
            -d "$data"
    else
        curl -s -X "$method" \
            -H "X-Atlantis-Token: $ATLANTIS_TOKEN" \
            "${ATLANTIS_URL}/api/${endpoint}"
    fi
}

# GitHub/GitLab comment helper for PR commands
atlantis_comment() {
    echo "Use these PR comments:"
    echo "  atlantis plan [-w workspace] [-d directory]"
    echo "  atlantis apply [-w workspace] [-d directory]"
    echo "  atlantis unlock"
}

Output Rules

• TOKEN EFFICIENCY: Target <=50 lines per output
• Use API endpoints for server inspection
• PR-based operations are done via comments, not API
• Never expose webhook secrets in output

Common Operations

Project Configuration Review

#!/bin/bash
REPO_DIR="${1:-.}"

echo "=== atlantis.yaml Configuration ==="
cat "${REPO_DIR}/atlantis.yaml" 2>/dev/null || \
cat "${REPO_DIR}/atlantis.yml" 2>/dev/null || \
echo "No atlantis.yaml found -- using server-side config"

echo ""
echo "=== Detected Projects ==="
if [ -f "${REPO_DIR}/atlantis.yaml" ]; then
    cat "${REPO_DIR}/atlantis.yaml" | python3 -c "
import sys, yaml
config = yaml.safe_load(sys.stdin)
for p in config.get('projects', []):
    print(f\"{p.get('name', 'unnamed')}\t{p.get('dir', '.')}\t{p.get('workspace', 'default')}\t{p.get('terraform_version', 'default')}\")
" 2>/dev/null | column -t
else
    find "$REPO_DIR" -name "*.tf" -not -path "*/.terraform/*" -exec dirname {} \; 2>/dev/null | sort -u | head -15
fi

Lock Management

#!/bin/bash
echo "=== Current Locks ==="
atlantis_api GET "locks" | jq -r '
    .[] | "\(.repo_full_name)\t\(.workspace)\tPR#\(.pull.num)\t\(.pull.author)\t\(.time)"
' | column -t

echo ""
echo "=== Stale Locks (>24h) ==="
atlantis_api GET "locks" | jq -r '
    .[] |
    select((.time | fromdateiso8601) < (now - 86400)) |
    "STALE: \(.repo_full_name) workspace=\(.workspace) PR#\(.pull.num) locked_by=\(.pull.author)"
'

echo ""
LOCK_ID="${1:-}"
if [ -n "$LOCK_ID" ]; then
    echo "To unlock, comment 'atlantis unlock' on the PR, or:"
    echo "curl -X DELETE ${ATLANTIS_URL}/api/locks/${LOCK_ID} -H 'X-Atlantis-Token: \$ATLANTIS_TOKEN'"
fi

Workspace Management

#!/bin/bash
echo "=== Workspaces in Use ==="
atlantis_api GET "locks" | jq -r '
    [.[] | .workspace] | unique | .[]
'

echo ""
echo "=== PR Comment Commands ==="
echo "Plan specific workspace:  atlantis plan -w staging"
echo "Apply specific workspace: atlantis apply -w staging"
echo "Plan specific directory:  atlantis plan -d infrastructure/vpc"
echo "Plan all projects:        atlantis plan"

Workflow Configuration

#!/bin/bash
echo "=== Custom Workflows ==="
cat atlantis.yaml 2>/dev/null | python3 -c "
import sys, yaml
config = yaml.safe_load(sys.stdin)
workflows = config.get('workflows', {})
for name, wf in workflows.items():
    print(f'Workflow: {name}')
    plan_steps = wf.get('plan', {}).get('steps', ['init', 'plan'])
    apply_steps = wf.get('apply', {}).get('steps', ['apply'])
    print(f'  Plan steps:  {[s if isinstance(s, str) else list(s.keys())[0] for s in plan_steps]}')
    print(f'  Apply steps: {[s if isinstance(s, str) else list(s.keys())[0] for s in apply_steps]}')
" 2>/dev/null || echo "No custom workflows defined"

echo ""
echo "=== Server-Side Repo Config ==="
echo "Check server repos.yaml for server-side workflow overrides"

Plan/Apply Status

#!/bin/bash
echo "=== Recent PR Activity ==="
atlantis_api GET "jobs" 2>/dev/null | jq '
    .[0:10][] | {
        pr: .pull_num,
        project: .project,
        workspace: .workspace,
        status: .status,
        started: .started_at
    }
' | head -40

echo ""
echo "=== Common PR Commands ==="
echo "atlantis plan                    # Plan all projects"
echo "atlantis plan -w prod            # Plan specific workspace"
echo "atlantis plan -d infra/vpc       # Plan specific directory"
echo "atlantis plan -- -target=aws_s3  # Plan with extra args"
echo "atlantis apply                   # Apply all planned projects"
echo "atlantis unlock                  # Release all locks"

Safety Rules

• NEVER force-unlock without checking if an apply is in progress -- can corrupt state
• Review plan output before commenting atlantis apply on PRs
• Use allowed_overrides carefully -- allows PR authors to bypass server-side configs
• Webhook secrets must be strong -- weak secrets allow unauthorized plan/apply triggers
• Apply requirements (mergeable, approved) should be enforced for production workspaces

Output Format

Present results as a structured report:

Managing Atlantis Report
════════════════════════
Resources discovered: [count]

Resource       Status    Key Metric    Issues
──────────────────────────────────────────────
[name]         [ok/warn] [value]       [findings]

Summary: [total] resources | [ok] healthy | [warn] warnings | [crit] critical
Action Items: [list of prioritized findings]

Target ≤50 lines of output. Use tables for multi-resource comparisons.

Anti-Hallucination Rules

1. NEVER assume resource names — always discover via CLI/API in Phase 1 before referencing in Phase 2.
2. NEVER fabricate metric names or dimensions — verify against the service documentation or --help output.
3. NEVER mix CLI commands between service versions — confirm which version/API you are targeting.
4. ALWAYS use the discovery → verify → analyze chain — every resource referenced must have been discovered first.
5. ALWAYS handle empty results gracefully — an empty response is valid data, not an error to retry.

Counter-Rationalizations

Shortcut	Counter	Why
"I'll skip discovery and check known resources"	Always run Phase 1 discovery first	Resource names change, new resources appear — assumed names cause errors
"The user only asked for a quick check"	Follow the full discovery → analysis flow	Quick checks miss critical issues; structured analysis catches silent failures
"Default configuration is probably fine"	Audit configuration explicitly	Defaults often leave logging, security, and optimization features disabled
"Metrics aren't needed for this"	Always check relevant metrics when available	API/CLI responses show current state; metrics reveal trends and intermittent issues
"I don't have access to that"	Try the command and report the actual error	Assumed permission failures prevent useful investigation; actual errors are informative

Common Pitfalls

• Lock conflicts: Only one PR can lock a workspace/directory at a time -- close stale PRs to release locks
• Webhook delivery failures: GitHub/GitLab webhook timeouts cause missed plan triggers -- check delivery logs
• Terraform version mismatch: Server default version may differ from project needs -- set per-project in atlantis.yaml
• Parallel plan limits: Too many concurrent plans can exhaust server resources -- configure max parallelism
• Auto-merge on apply: If enabled, PRs merge immediately after apply -- ensure branch protection rules are set
• Repo allowlist: Atlantis only processes repos in the allowlist -- new repos must be added
• Custom workflow errors: Script failures in custom workflows may not surface clearly in PR comments
• Credentials in logs: Plan output may contain sensitive values -- ensure Atlantis redacts or use log sanitization