Terraform now supports assigning agent pools at the project level

We are excited to announce a new enhancement to agent pool configuration in HCP Terraform and Terraform Enterprise: assigning default agent pools at the project level. This update helps simplify the management of self-hosted agents, improving security, scalability, and ease of use across workspaces.

HCP Terraform agents let Terraform manage isolated, private, or on-premises infrastructure securely, without needing intricate networking configurations. HCP Terraform organizes agents into agent pools, and users can designate which agent pool handles the workloads for specific workspaces.

Previously in HCP Terraform and Terraform Enterprise, the assignment of default agent pools could be configured only at the workspace level. This was a multi-step process that required users to scope the agent pool to make it accessible to some or all workspaces in the organization, and then individually configure the desired workspaces to use the agent pool. This manual process was time-consuming, error-prone, and lacked scalability. We began addressing these limitations by delivering default agent pool configuration at the organization level, but this still did not solve for customers looking to customize build environments at the project level.

»Assigning agent pools to projects

Building on these efforts, HCP Terraform users can now set a default execution mode at the project level. Users with project owner permissions can specify a default agent pool using this setting, and any future workspace created within the organization will automatically adopt it.

Note that to avoid unintended disruptions with this new capability, all existing workspaces retain their current execution mode. Team members with workspace admin permissions can break the inheritance by reassigning their workspaces to a different agent pool based on their specific requirements. This approach fosters a self-service model and enables consistent agent pool assignment within an organization.

»Getting started

This feature is now available in HCP Terraform and Terraform Enterprise. Please refer to Terraform’s permissions documentation for details on getting started.

If you are new to Terraform, you can get started with HashiCorp-managed HCP Terraform for free to begin provisioning and managing your infrastructure in any environment. And don’t forget to link your HCP Terraform and HashiCorp Cloud Platform (HCP) accounts for a seamless sign-in experience.