Cloud automation and orchestration

Cloud automation replaces manual, click-through provisioning with code that describes your infrastructure. Instead of logging into a dashboard to create a VM, a network, and a security group one at a time, you write a configuration file that declares all three and their relationships. A tool reads that file and creates everything in the correct order, every time.

This approach is called Infrastructure as Code (IaC), and it is the foundation of repeatable, auditable cloud operations.

Why infrastructure as code matters#

Manual provisioning works for a single server. It breaks down when you need to reproduce an environment, hand it to a teammate, roll back a change, or run the same stack in staging and production. IaC solves these problems:

• Repeatability. The same configuration file produces the same infrastructure. No undocumented dashboard clicks.
• Version control. Infrastructure definitions live in Git alongside application code. You can review changes in a pull request, revert a bad deploy, and trace who changed what.
• Collaboration. A shared configuration file is a single source of truth. Team members work from the same definition rather than a wiki page with screenshots.
• Automation. CI/CD pipelines can provision and tear down environments without human intervention.

IaC on Quake AI#

Quake AI supports three IaC tools for provisioning, plus Ansible for configuration management above the provisioning layer. OpenTofu is the default for Day 0 provisioning on new projects; Quake AI templates and how-to guides use OpenTofu. Ansible handles Day 1 and Day 2 host configuration after OpenTofu provisions the infrastructure.

The split is sometimes called Day 0 / Day 1 / Day 2:

• Day 0 (provision): create VMs, networks, security groups, floating IPs. OpenTofu owns this layer.
• Day 1 (configure): install packages, harden SSH, deploy your application onto a freshly provisioned host. Ansible owns this layer.
• Day 2 (operate): patch hosts, rotate credentials, run drift correction. Ansible runs against the existing inventory.

OpenTofu (default for provisioning)#

OpenTofu is an open-source infrastructure tool hosted by the Linux Foundation. It uses HCL (HashiCorp Configuration Language) to declare resources and manages state in a local or remote state file.

On Quake AI, OpenTofu uses the OpenStack provider to manage compute instances, networks, security groups, block storage, and floating IPs. For S3-compatible object storage, it uses the AWS provider with a custom endpoint.

Key strengths for Quake AI users:

• Plan before apply. tofu plan shows exactly what will change before any resource is created, modified, or destroyed.
• Multi-provider support. Manage Quake AI resources and external services (DNS, monitoring, S3 storage) in a single configuration.
• Module ecosystem. Reuse community modules from the Terraform Registry. OpenTofu is fully compatible with Terraform providers and modules.
• Open-source license. MPL-2.0 with no usage restrictions.

Terraform (supported)#

Terraform and OpenTofu share the same HCL syntax, provider ecosystem, and state format. Quake AI OpenTofu templates run with terraform instead of tofu without modification. If your team already has Terraform workflows, they work on Quake AI as-is.

Heat (legacy)#

OpenStack Heat is the built-in orchestration service on Quake AI. It uses HOT (Heat Orchestration Template) YAML files and manages state server-side. Heat can only orchestrate OpenStack-native resources; it cannot manage external services, and it has no equivalent of plan or a module registry.

Heat remains supported for existing stacks. New projects and templates use OpenTofu.

Ansible (configuration management above OpenTofu)#

Ansible is an agentless configuration-management tool from Red Hat. It runs YAML playbooks against an inventory of hosts to install packages, edit files, manage services, and deploy applications. Ansible does not replace OpenTofu; it sits one layer above it. OpenTofu provisions the VM, then Ansible logs in over SSH and configures it.

The openstack.cloud Ansible collection can also drive Quake AI's API directly, for cases where a small amount of provisioning lives alongside configuration. The combined pattern is documented in How to use Ansible with OpenTofu on Quake AI.

For a deeper walkthrough of when to reach for Ansible, read Ansible on Quake AI.

Choosing the right tool#

For a detailed feature comparison, see IaC on Quake AI.

Getting started#

The fastest path from zero to a running resource:

1. Install OpenTofu and deploy your first instance: a step-by-step guide covering installation, authentication, and your first tofu apply.
2. Browse the infrastructure template library for common deployment patterns you can deploy or adapt. Each reference page lists when to choose that pattern and links to shared customize how-tos.
3. Set up remote state management when you are ready to collaborate with a team.

See also#

• Automation service overview
• IaC on Quake AI
• How to get started with Infrastructure as Code
• Infrastructure template library