Terraform agent apply authority

01 / Principal and identity

Who acts, and what can the platform identify?

An infrastructure agent proposes a plan; an executor applies it.

Workspace and cloud credentials identify the runner, not necessarily the approver.

02 / Action-time control

Where can an unauthorized effect be stopped?

Require a saved plan and verify its digest at the apply gate.

Bind plan, workspace, variables, approver, expiry and policy version.

Delegation constraint

Planning may be delegated while apply remains with an accountable operator.

03 / Worked denial

Test a request outside the grant.

An agent gets approval for a staging plan, then attempts to apply a revised production plan.

Adversarial verification

Approve a saved staging plan, modify the workspace or variables, then attempt apply. The apply gate must compare the plan digest and target workspace before provider calls.

04 / Review and responsibility

What should the audit trail prove?

Plan digest, workspace, diff summary, approval, apply job, provider responses and drift check.

A plan approval cannot guarantee provider outcome or detect changes outside Terraform.