There’s a phrase you hear a lot in DevOps circles: “Never ClickOps — always Terraform.” It sounds clean, disciplined, and professional. But like most absolutist statements in technology, it oversimplifies reality. The truth is more nuanced: sometimes, clicking through the console is exactly the right move. And other times, Terraform or any Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) tool is not just better — it’s essential.
In this post, we’ll unpack this myth and explore when ClickOps makes sense, and when IaC is the only sane choice.
ClickOps Isn’t Evil
ClickOps often gets demonized as sloppy or unprofessional. But in practice, there are moments where it shines:
- Exploration: When you’re learning a new cloud service, nothing beats the immediacy of poking around the UI. Documentation is rarely as intuitive as seeing it live.
- Prototyping: If you just want to test an idea quickly — “what happens if I enable this feature?” — clicking through can be the fastest way forward.
- Small infra: For one-off, non-critical resources (a quick test VM, a short-lived bucket), the overhead of writing Terraform can be heavier than the resource itself.
The danger isn’t in using ClickOps. The danger is in never graduating from it.
IaC Shines at Scale
Infrastructure-as-Code tools like Terraform are designed for complexity, repeatability, and scale. They become invaluable when:
- You have multiple environments — dev, test, staging, prod — and you need consistency across all of them.
- Infrastructure is complex — with multiple interconnected services that need precise relationships defined.
- Teams collaborate — peer review, version control, and clear change history matter once infra is no longer a one-person show.
- Compliance and auditing are required — regulators don’t accept “we clicked it into existence” as a process.
At this level, sticking with ClickOps is a liability. Terraform gives you safety nets, reproducibility, and confidence.
The Myth to Break
The myth is not that ClickOps is bad. The myth is that Terraform is always better.
Reality is more like this:
- Day One (Exploration & Prototyping): ClickOps can be faster, more intuitive, and perfectly fine.
- Day Two (Scaling & Collaboration): Terraform (or other IaC tools) becomes essential, providing the structure and control you need.
In other words: use the console to learn and explore, but don’t stay there forever.
Conclusion
“Terraform vs. ClickOps” isn’t a binary choice. It’s a lifecycle. The console helps you get familiar with new services, validate ideas quickly, and spin up small resources without friction. Terraform and other IaC tools step in when infrastructure matures and scale demands more control.
The real wisdom is not in choosing one over the other, but in knowing when to switch.
his post is part of the Infrastructure Myths series, where we challenge common assumptions in DevOps and Cloud.
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