hashicorp
Installation
SKILL.md
HashiCorp Style Guide
Overview
HashiCorp is defined by its "Tao," a set of engineering principles that guided the creation of tools like Terraform, Consul, Vault, and Nomad. These principles focus on solving the right problems with the right level of abstraction, favoring consistent workflows for users even as the underlying technologies change.
The Tao of HashiCorp
- Workflows, Not Technologies: Technologies change (VMs -> Containers -> Serverless), but the workflow (Provision, Secure, Connect, Run) remains the same. Design the workflow first.
- Simple, Modular, Composable: Do one thing and do it well. Tools should be loosely coupled. The "Unix Philosophy" applied to cloud infrastructure.
- Communicating via Explicit APIs: Systems should interact through well-defined, versioned APIs, not by sharing database state or internal memory.
- Immutability: Once something is created, it should not change. To change it, destroy it and create a new version. This applies to infrastructure (servers), artifacts (containers), and configurations.
- Versioning through Codification: "Infrastructure as Code." Everything—policy, security, networking—should be code, stored in version control, and reviewable.
- Automation through Codification: Since everything is code, everything can be automated. Human intervention should be the exception.
- Resilient Systems: Failure is inevitable. Design systems that expect failure and recover automatically (self-healing).
- Pragmatism: Solve real problems. Don't over-engineer.