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You can mix using Terraform modules written in Terraform CDK and regular Terraform HCL. Really there's no good reason to use Pulumi (or AWS CDK...) anymore IMH

You can mix using Terraform modules written in Terraform CDK and regular Terraform HCL. Really there's no good reason to use Pulumi (or AWS CDK...) anymore IMHO.

klysm 4y ago
I’m in the decision process around this stuff right now and would be curious if you have any more opinions around the two tools.
- candiddevmike 4y ago
  Pulumi was a one trick pony that never figured out a way to differentiate themselves before HashiCorp caved and delivered a Terraform CDK (Terraform for the longest time was extremely hard to use programmatically, you basically had to wrap the binary, you couldn't import a lot of the underlying Go code directly) (aside: HashiCorp still does this with Consul and friends, very annoying and has clear intentions on why). I would master Terraform modules with HCL before reaching for a CDK (or Pulumi). You may find you don't need anything more, or you'll figure out why you need those things instead. Plan your automation journey with the end user in mind but not an immediate goal, service your own needs first and eventually build out tooling _designed for them_.
  - mountainriver 4y ago
    Terraform CDK has terrible UX compared to Pulumi
  - cnunciato 4y ago
    Really? Why? Trying something new before becoming a "master" in something similar seems like a totally reasonable concept to me. I work on Pulumi, and even I don't actively discourage people from trying its alternatives. Use what makes you happy, I say.
- moltar 4y ago
  If you are all in AWS then strong vote for AWS CDK. If you need other cloud providers, then perhaps check CDKTF as well. But also nothing wrong with using both. Just not on the same stack or sub system. TF also has other than cloud types of providers, which is interesting. Such as GitHub provider. Or Google Workplace.
pid-1 4y ago
I'm a fan of CF managing state versus TF's way of doing things. I also thing AWS CDK libs have much higher quality compared to the ones I generally find for TF.
- candiddevmike 4y ago
  That's great, is AWS truly the only IaaS/PaaS/SaaS you use? The benefit of Terraform at this point over everything else is the sheer amount of providers out there for it. You can have _everything in code_, even shit you'd never think about like Google Workspace accounts.
  - pid-1 4y ago
    Yeah sure TF supports everything. My point was: CDKTF is not a superset of AWS CDK - they are different tools with different philosophies and pros/cons.
  - Thorentis 4y ago
    Yeah I think this realisation is what sold Terraform to me. You can have your git repos, CI pipelines, opsgenie teams, workspace accounts, cloud infrastructure, etc etc all in one place. Infra is no longer just "where the software runs" but "what the company runs on".
mountainriver 4y ago
Pulumi has way better UX than CDK. I evaluated both recently and CDK felt super janky.

You can mix using Terraform modules written in Terraform CDK and regular Terraform HCL. Really there's no good reason to use Pulumi (or AWS CDK...) anymore IMHO.

klysm 4y ago

I’m in the decision process around this stuff right now and would be curious if you have any more opinions around the two tools.

candiddevmike 4y ago
Pulumi was a one trick pony that never figured out a way to differentiate themselves before HashiCorp caved and delivered a Terraform CDK (Terraform for the longest time was extremely hard to use programmatically, you basically had to wrap the binary, you couldn't import a lot of the underlying Go code directly) (aside: HashiCorp still does this with Consul and friends, very annoying and has clear intentions on why). I would master Terraform modules with HCL before reaching for a CDK (or Pulumi). You may find you don't need anything more, or you'll figure out why you need those things instead. Plan your automation journey with the end user in mind but not an immediate goal, service your own needs first and eventually build out tooling _designed for them_.
- mountainriver 4y ago
  Terraform CDK has terrible UX compared to Pulumi
- cnunciato 4y ago
  Really? Why? Trying something new before becoming a "master" in something similar seems like a totally reasonable concept to me. I work on Pulumi, and even I don't actively discourage people from trying its alternatives. Use what makes you happy, I say.
moltar 4y ago
If you are all in AWS then strong vote for AWS CDK. If you need other cloud providers, then perhaps check CDKTF as well. But also nothing wrong with using both. Just not on the same stack or sub system. TF also has other than cloud types of providers, which is interesting. Such as GitHub provider. Or Google Workplace.

pid-1 4y ago

I'm a fan of CF managing state versus TF's way of doing things. I also thing AWS CDK libs have much higher quality compared to the ones I generally find for TF.

candiddevmike 4y ago
That's great, is AWS truly the only IaaS/PaaS/SaaS you use? The benefit of Terraform at this point over everything else is the sheer amount of providers out there for it. You can have _everything in code_, even shit you'd never think about like Google Workspace accounts.
- pid-1 4y ago
  Yeah sure TF supports everything. My point was: CDKTF is not a superset of AWS CDK - they are different tools with different philosophies and pros/cons.
- Thorentis 4y ago
  Yeah I think this realisation is what sold Terraform to me. You can have your git repos, CI pipelines, opsgenie teams, workspace accounts, cloud infrastructure, etc etc all in one place. Infra is no longer just "where the software runs" but "what the company runs on".

mountainriver 4y ago

Pulumi has way better UX than CDK. I evaluated both recently and CDK felt super janky.