Infrastructure as Code

Infrastructure as Code (IaC) manages infrastructure through declarative definition files — reviewed, versioned, and applied by tooling — instead of console clicks and manual changes. The definitions become the source of truth for what exists and how it is configured.

Declarative tools describe the desired end state and compute the changes to reach it; imperative tools script each step. Most platforms now have a first-party option plus popular open-source engines, and modern teams rarely run infrastructure without at least one of them.

The benefits compound over time: environments become reproducible, changes get peer review, and disaster recovery becomes "reapply in a new region." The discipline required is real too — state handling, module structure, and drift detection are engineering problems, and teams should staff for them like any other system.