Governed Infrastructure-as-Code Reference System

What This Is

This repository is a reference implementation of a governed Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) system.

It demonstrates how infrastructure changes can be made intentional, auditable, policy-constrained, and explicitly accountable to humans.

The system is designed around governance and failure containment rather than speed or local convenience, mirroring the constraints of real-world, regulated, or large-scale environments.

This is not a template for rapid experimentation; it is a model for disciplined infrastructure change.

What This Is Not

This repository is not:

• A drop-in production platform
• A tutorial for learning Terraform or cloud basics
• A fast-feedback local development environment
• An opinionated “best practices” checklist
• A replacement for organizational governance or decision-making

Why This Exists

Modern Infrastructure-as-Code systems fail less often due to tooling defects and more often due to governance collapse: unclear authority, mutable standards, undocumented exceptions, and non-reproducible decision paths. As systems scale, these failures become silent, systemic, and expensive to reverse.

This repository exists to demonstrate a different approach: infrastructure that is constrained by explicit design limits, governed by verifiable rules, and structured to remain legible under organizational stress. The goal is not velocity. The goal is durability under scrutiny.

Specifically, this reference system exists to:

• Treat constraints (organizational, technical, and operational) as first-class design inputs
• Encode governance assumptions directly into architecture and workflow
• Favor auditability, determinism, and reversibility over convenience
• Remain usable in environments where common tooling assumptions (e.g., local Docker) do not hold

Core Principles

Design Constraints (At a Glance)

This system is intentionally constrained. These constraints are not limitations to be removed; they are invariants the architecture is designed to hold.

• No local Docker dependency
  All workflows must execute without requiring a local Docker daemon.
• Deterministic environments
  Dev, staging, and prod are structurally identical; differences are data, not topology.
• Plan-before-apply enforcement
  All infrastructure changes require a reviewed, recorded plan prior to application.
• Policy-as-code required
  Security, compliance, and guardrails are enforced via automated policy checks.
• CI is the control plane
  Human interaction is mediated through version control and CI gates, not imperative access.
• Reversibility over speed
  Every change must be designed to be safely rolled back.
• Explicit non-goals documented
  Anything out of scope is named and intentionally excluded.

Repository Structure (Guided Tour)

This repository is organized to reflect how governed infrastructure is actually operated.

repo-root/
├── .github/
│   └── workflows/        # CI gates: linting, planning, policy checks, controlled apply
├── infra/
│   ├── modules/          # Reusable Terraform modules (no environment coupling)
│   └── envs/             # Environment wiring: dev / staging / prod
├── policies/             # Policy-as-code (OPA / Checkov)
├── scripts/              # Promotion, verification, and safety tooling
├── docs/                 # Deep dives and supporting architecture material
├── ARCHITECTURE.md       # Canonical system architecture (authoritative)
└── README.md             # Entry point and narrative overview

Each directory exists to enforce separation of concerns between definition, validation, and execution.

How to Use This Repository

This repository is designed to be studied, not deployed directly. It exists to demonstrate patterns, not to run production workloads.

To explore this repository:

1. Read ARCHITECTURE.md first – This document explains the canonical system design and trade-offs.
2. Review .github/workflows/ – See how governance is enforced via CI gates.
3. Examine policies/ – Understand how policy-as-code validates infrastructure changes.
4. Study infra/modules/ – See how reusable Terraform modules are structured without environment coupling.
5. Follow the repository evolution – Use Git history to understand the progression from initial setup to full governance.

Versioning

This repository follows Semantic Versioning (MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH):

• MAJOR: Breaking changes to governance model, workflow structure, or architectural invariants
• MINOR: New governance features, additional policy checks, or non-breaking workflow improvements
• PATCH: Documentation fixes, CI tuning, or clarifications

See the CHANGELOG.md for a complete version history.

Audience

This repository is intended for:

• Platform engineers building governed infrastructure systems
• DevOps architects designing compliance-first CI/CD workflows
• Security teams enforcing policy-as-code in cloud environments
• Engineering leaders evaluating governance models for regulated industries
• Infrastructure auditors reviewing controlled change management practices

This is not for teams seeking:

• Rapid prototyping environments
• Local development with Docker Compose
• Quick-start Terraform tutorials
• Opinionated "best practices" checklists