Infrastructure As Code Patterns: Infrastructure as Code Patterns Guide

Infrastructure as Code Patterns Guide Best practices for composable, maintainable, and scalable Terraform infrastructure. Datanest Digital — datanest.dev Table of Contents Pattern Philosophy Composition vs Inheritance Module Design Principles State Management Environment Strategy Drift Detection & Remediation Cost Estimation & Optimization Security Considerations CI/CD Integration Troubleshooting Pattern Philosophy These patterns follow three core principles: Composable : Each pattern is a self-contained unit that can be used independently or combined with others. A VPC pattern doesn't assume you'll use ECS — it outputs everything downstream patterns need. Environment-aware : Every pattern accepts an environment variable and adjusts defaults accordingly. Dev gets cost-optimized settings; prod gets HA and monitoring. Opinionated defaults, flexible overrides : Patterns ship with production-ready defaults but expose variables for every meaningful configuration point. ┌────────────────────