LOCKEDIN / FORWARD-DEPLOYED ENGINEERING 101
Understand it.
Then build it.
You can be an experienced engineer and still be new to agents. Start with what each thing is and how it helps a person do useful work. Explore 64 original introductions across software, agents, cloud, security and delivery. Start here without a model key; each topic connects to deeper instruction and practice.
A place to start.
Choose a short reading route, or look up a concept below.
- 101UnderstandPlain language, visual walkthrough, vocabulary
- 102Build with guidanceOriginal lessons, examples and knowledge checks
- 103Practise and explainRunnable labs, failure cases and handover
Infrastructure as code · configuration, state and plan
What is Terraform?
Terraform is an infrastructure-as-code tool. Configuration describes desired resources, providers communicate with target systems, and state records managed object bindings. A plan proposes changes; apply executes them.
An FDE needs a reviewable way to change infrastructure and an accurate account of what was actually provisioned.
UNDERSTAND THE SYSTEM
Terraform compares intent with managed infrastructure
Terraform is an infrastructure-as-code tool. Configuration describes desired resources; state maps them to managed objects. A plan proposes changes, and apply executes them.
Read the connections in plain English
- 01Configuration → State
Configuration names are bound to actual managed objects through state.
- 02State → Provider + target
Planning normally reads remote objects through their provider.
- 03Provider + target → Saved plan
Detect differences and inspect their consequences.
- 04Saved plan → Apply
Protect plan files and use the exact reviewed artifact.
- 05Apply → Live acceptance
Provisioned resources still need application acceptance.
Check your understanding: Would restoring Terraform state restore customer records?
No. State identifies infrastructure resources. Customer data, application configuration, compatible software and access dependencies require their own tested recovery process.
CONNECT IT TO WHAT YOU KNOW
Start with something familiar.
Think of declaring the intended arrangement, then inspecting the difference before asking a tool to change the target.
Terraform state is not a backup of customer database rows. A successful apply does not establish a healthy application.
Words worth knowing
- HCL
- HashiCorp Configuration Language, commonly used to write Terraform configuration.
- Provider
- Code implementing interaction with a target API.
- State
- Managed resource bindings and attributes; potentially sensitive.
- Drift
- A difference involving configuration, recorded state and actual resources.
- Saved plan
- An artifact apply can execute without prompting again.
Useful foundations
Open a definition and diagram here. Your lesson stays in place.
A deployment and operating environmentWhat changes when AI runs in a cloud?
QUICK REFERENCE / 101
What changes when AI runs in a cloud?
A cloud platform provides managed computing, storage, networking and identity services. A managed model endpoint is one service inside that environment. Building AI in a cloud means connecting these pieces into an application with explicit data, access, operational and cost boundaries.
An FDE must design for the customer's actual environment rather than assume every provider exposes the same behavior.
Settings supplied to a running programWhat are environment variables and configuration?
QUICK REFERENCE / 101
What are environment variables and configuration?
Configuration is the set of settings an application uses to choose its behavior. An environment variable is a named text value available to a running process, such as an attempt limit. A dotenv file stores settings as name=value lines. The file must be loaded by a runtime, library or framework before its values affect the program.
An FDE moves an application between a laptop, a client environment and deployment. The same code can behave differently because its launch settings differ. Trace where each effective value comes from before changing prompts or reinstalling an SDK.
ONE EXAMPLE / FICTIONAL CASE
Follow the connections.
A local terraform_data resource stores a service contract with two declared replicas. It creates no server. Changing the input demonstrates planning and state without a cloud account.
UNDERSTAND THE SYSTEM
Terraform compares intent with managed infrastructure
Terraform is an infrastructure-as-code tool. Configuration describes desired resources; state maps them to managed objects. A plan proposes changes, and apply executes them.
See what moves and why.
Read the connections in plain English
- 01Configuration → State
Configuration names are bound to actual managed objects through state.
- 02State → Provider + target
Planning normally reads remote objects through their provider.
- 03Provider + target → Saved plan
Detect differences and inspect their consequences.
- 04Saved plan → Apply
Protect plan files and use the exact reviewed artifact.
- 05Apply → Live acceptance
Provisioned resources still need application acceptance.
Check your understanding: Would restoring Terraform state restore customer records?
No. State identifies infrastructure resources. Customer data, application configuration, compatible software and access dependencies require their own tested recovery process.
Work through it, step by step.
Describe
Write the intended configuration and inputs.
What you have now: Versioned HCL.
Compare
Read state and observed resource attributes.
What you have now: A proposed plan.
Review
Inspect target, replacements, deletions and sensitive values.
What you have now: An authorized exact change.
Accept
Apply deliberately and test the useful service where one exists.
What you have now: Operation result and application evidence.
FROM RECOGNITION TO REASONING
Explain the visual, predict a case and compare it with the linked workshop.
- 01
Name each component in plain English.
- 02
Predict the outcome before revealing the explanation.
- 03
Run the linked exercise and retain actual evidence with its limits.
A labeled explanation and a workshop observation you can reproduce.
Compare your reasoning when you are ready
Terraform state is not a backup of customer database rows. A successful apply does not establish a healthy application.
Keep notes in your own working copy. Moving through these cards does not record completion.
TURN THE IDEA INTO USEFUL WORK
You can now go deeper.
Terraform state is not a backup of customer database rows. A successful apply does not establish a healthy application.
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