alibabacloud-executing-plans

Alibaba Cloud Executing Plans

AUTHORITATIVE GUIDANCE — MANDATORY COMPLIANCE

This skill executes validated Terraform code via Alibaba Cloud IaC Service (remote execution). It creates real cloud resources that cost money. Safety gates are non-negotiable.

ALL CLI operations MUST use MCP tool AlibabaCloud___CallCLI — never use Bash to run aliyun commands directly.

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PREREQUISITE CHECK — MANDATORY

Before proceeding, verify BOTH prerequisites:

1. Validation passed — check tasks/status.json has status: "validated" (internal check, don't expose to user)
2. User explicitly confirmed they want to execute

If EITHER is missing, STOP IMMEDIATELY:

• Not validated? → Invoke alibabacloud:validate first
• No user confirmation? → Ask user before proceeding

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Triggers

Activate when:

• User explicitly asks to execute/apply the Terraform plan
• User confirms they want to proceed after validation passes

NEVER activate automatically. This skill requires explicit user intent.

Rules

1. Single deploy approval, granted upstream — The user authorizes deployment ONCE in alibabacloud-validate's gate. Inside this skill the entire plan → apply chain runs automatically. Never add a second confirmation between plan and apply.
2. Plan before apply, results always shown — Always run terraform plan first AND surface its output to the user before apply. The user can interrupt mid-stream if the plan reveals something unexpected, but the default flow does not stop to ask.
3. MCP only — ALL aliyun CLI commands MUST go through AlibabaCloud___CallCLI, never through Bash
4. Inline content — Read .tf files locally, then pass content as string to --code (MCP cannot access local files)
5. Record everything — All outputs recorded to tasks/
6. Support rollback — Provide destroy option if apply fails
7. Poll for completion — IaC Service is async; use sequential MCP calls to poll
8. ⚠️ Destructive operations (destroy) require double confirmation
9. Persist state_id — IaC Service keeps the Terraform state remotely keyed by state_id. This skill MUST write it back to tasks/status.json (under state.state_id) on every Plan / Apply / Destroy and MUST pass the saved value on every subsequent Day-2 call. Losing the state_id orphans the remote state and forces a fresh deploy (potential duplicate resources).
10. Source-of-truth integrity — Some failures are only discoverable at apply time (SKU offline in target AZ, zone out-of-capacity, etc.). Any spec change forced by such a failure MUST be written back to BOTH designs/design.md (with a Decisions Log entry) AND designs/terraform/*.tf BEFORE re-running plan/apply. Never hot-patch the in-flight apply — Day-2 iterations re-read these files and will redeploy the broken spec if it isn't fixed at the source.

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State Persistence (CRITICAL for Day-2)

IaC Service stores each deployment's Terraform state remotely, indexed by state_id. This handle is the contract that lets you iterate on the same infrastructure across multiple executing-plans invocations:

When	Read	Write
Step 1 (start)	tasks/status.json → state.state_id (may be empty on first run)	—
Step 3 (after plan response)	—	state.state_id, state.last_plan_at
Step 5/6 (after apply succeeds)	—	state.state_id (re-confirm), state.last_apply_at
Destroy (after success)	—	state.last_destroy_at; keep state_id as historical record

Branching by Day-1 vs Day-2:

Scenario	Saved state_id	Plan CLI
Day-1 (first run)	absent / empty	--code '{CODE}' --client-token <uuid>
Day-2 (iteration)	present	--code '{CODE}' --state-id {STATE_ID} --client-token <uuid>

Apply always passes --state-id; pass --code too only when the HCL changed between plan and apply (rare — usually code is already final at plan time).

Legacy / migration edge case. If status is executed but state.state_id is absent (status.json predates this schema), STOP before touching the remote — ask the user whether to:

• (a) treat this as Day-1 and create a fresh state (risks duplicate resources alongside the legacy deployment), or
• (b) abort and let the user supply the missing state_id manually (recommended if they know it).

Never silently start fresh — the user paid for those resources.

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MCP Execution Model

CRITICAL: The AlibabaCloud___CallCLI MCP tool runs on a REMOTE server. It CANNOT:

• Access local files (no file://, no $(cat ...), no local paths)
• Use shell operators (|, >, &&, $())
• Use shell variables or environment variables

Therefore, you MUST:

1. Use the Read tool to read .tf file contents into your context
2. Concatenate all .tf files into a single string and pass it inline via --code
3. Escape single quotes in HCL content (replace ' with '\'' if needed)
4. Generate a fresh UUID for --client-token on every Plan / Apply / Destroy call (idempotency key, format [0-9a-zA-Z-]{1,64})

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Process

Step 1: Verify Prerequisites

1. Read tasks/status.json:
   • status must be "validated" (Day-1) OR "executed" (Day-2 re-iteration after planning produced new code)
   • Capture state.state_id into {STATE_ID} (may be empty on first run — that signals Day-1)
   • If status == "executed" but state.state_id is missing, see the legacy edge case in State Persistence before proceeding
2. Read tasks/validation-report.md — must show all reviews PASS
3. Confirm user intent one more time, and surface whether this is Day-1 or Day-2:

"Ready to execute Terraform.

{Day-1: This will create real cloud resources on Alibaba Cloud and incur costs.} {Day-2: This will update the existing deployment (state {STATE_ID}); changes shown in the next plan output will be applied to the live resources.}

Proceed with terraform plan?"

Step 2: Prepare Template Content

Read all .tf files from the design directory and concatenate them into a single string:

# Use Read tool to get content of each .tf file:
Read: .aliyun-ai-ops-spec/{name}/designs/terraform/main.tf
Read: .aliyun-ai-ops-spec/{name}/designs/terraform/variables.tf
Read: .aliyun-ai-ops-spec/{name}/designs/terraform/outputs.tf
# ... any other .tf files

Concatenate all content into one CODE string. This will be passed inline via --code to MCP commands.

Step 3: Execute Terraform Plan

Branch by whether {STATE_ID} was loaded in Step 1.

Day-1 (no prior state_id):

AlibabaCloud___CallCLI:
  command: "aliyun iacservice execute-terraform-plan --code '{CODE}' --client-token {CLIENT_TOKEN}"

Day-2 (continuing on saved state_id):

AlibabaCloud___CallCLI:
  command: "aliyun iacservice execute-terraform-plan --code '{CODE}' --state-id {STATE_ID} --client-token {CLIENT_TOKEN}"

Where:

• {CODE} = concatenated .tf content (single quotes properly escaped)
• {CLIENT_TOKEN} = fresh UUID (format [0-9a-zA-Z-]{1,64}) — required for idempotency
• {STATE_ID} = value from tasks/status.json → state.state_id (Day-2 only)

Response contains a state file ID (typically StateId) — capture it as {STATE_ID}. On Day-2 it will match the value passed in; on Day-1 this is the freshly minted one.

PERSIST IMMEDIATELY — before polling, before showing the plan output to the user, silently update tasks/status.json:

{
  ...,
  "state": {
    "state_id": "{STATE_ID}",
    "last_plan_at": "{ISO timestamp}",
    ...
  }
}

Rationale: if the user aborts at the Step 4 confirmation, the next invocation must still be able to continue on this state. Never poll or proceed before this write completes.

Poll for completion (see Polling Strategy below):

AlibabaCloud___CallCLI:
  command: "aliyun iacservice get-execute-state --state-id {STATE_ID}"

Step 4: Present Plan Results (no second confirmation)

Show the plan output to user, then proceed directly to Step 5 — do NOT stop to ask "Confirm apply?". The user already authorized deployment at the validate-stage gate; a second confirmation here is friction that this skill explicitly removes.

Write plan results to tasks/tf-plan-result.md.

Display:

"Terraform plan results:

• {N} resources to create ~ {N} resources to modify

• {N} resources to destroy

{Summary of key resources}

Will automatically enter the apply phase soon. If you find the plan does not match expectations, interrupt me immediately (e.g. press Esc / abort the current message)."

If the plan output reveals something the user clearly did not consent to (e.g. unexpected resource destruction in a Day-2 modify when no destroy was discussed), STOP and surface it as a question — this is a safety override, not the default flow:

"⚠️ Unexpected destructive changes detected in the plan:

• <resource> will be destroyed/replaced

This is usually outside the scope of the change. Confirm to continue? Reply "continue" to apply; reply "stop" and I will abort immediately."

Default path (no anomalies): emit the display block, then immediately invoke Step 5 in the same turn.

Step 5: Execute Terraform Apply (auto, immediately after Step 4)

Reuse {STATE_ID} (saved in Step 3) and a fresh --client-token (different UUID from the plan call):

AlibabaCloud___CallCLI:
  command: "aliyun iacservice execute-terraform-apply --state-id {STATE_ID} --client-token {CLIENT_TOKEN}"

If the HCL changed after plan (rare — usually it didn't), also pass --code '{CODE}' (mutually included with --state-id).

The apply response returns the same {STATE_ID} — re-confirm it matches the saved value before polling. If for any reason a NEW state_id appears, treat that as an anomaly: stop, alert the user, and do NOT overwrite the saved one without explicit confirmation.

Poll for completion:

AlibabaCloud___CallCLI:
  command: "aliyun iacservice get-execute-state --state-id {STATE_ID}"

Step 6: Record Results

Write results to tasks/tf-apply-result.md:

# Terraform Apply Results - {Requirement Name}

## Timestamp
{ISO timestamp}

## State ID
{state-id}

## Status
SUCCESS / FAILED

## Resources Created
| Resource Type | Resource Name | Resource ID |
|---------------|---------------|-------------|
| ... | ... | ... |

## Outputs
| Name | Value |
|------|-------|
| ... | ... |

## Errors (if any)
{error details}

Step 7: Update Internal State + TODO list

1. Silently update tasks/status.json. Do NOT mention this file to the user.

   {
     ...,
     "status": "executed",
     "updated_at": "{ISO timestamp}",
     "state": {
       "state_id": "{STATE_ID}",
       "last_plan_at": "{from Step 3}",
       "last_apply_at": "{ISO timestamp of successful apply}",
       "last_destroy_at": null
     }
   }
   

   state.state_id MUST be retained even on Day-2 transitions (do not clear it between iterations). Subsequent executing-plans invocations will read it back in Step 1 to continue on the same remote state.

2. Update the user-facing TODO list via TodoWrite: mark "Deployment execution: terraform plan/apply via IaC Service" → completed. This closes the 3-task scaffold the planning skill rendered after design confirmation, giving the user a clean "everything done" view.

   On apply failure or destroy: leave the task in in_progress so the user understands the workflow has not finished; mark completed only after the resource state is reconciled (retry succeeded, partial destroy completed, or user explicitly abandons).

Step 8: Generate Deployed Topology (topology.html)

When: Apply succeeded. Skip if failed or partial.

⚠️ topology.html ≠ designs/architecture.html。 architecture.html is the design diagram for the planning phase, with data from the design spec.topology.html is the actual topology diagram after deployment, with data from get-execute-state 's real remote state. Do not reuse, do not mix them up.

Approach:

1. Use Bash to find and read the guide:

   GUIDE=$(find ~/.qoderwork/plugins-custom ~/Desktop/alibabacloud-agent-toolkit -path "*/alibabacloud-executing-plans/references/architecture-topology-html-guide.md" 2>/dev/null | head -1)
   cat "$GUIDE"
   

   If you can't find it, stop and tell the user.You must finish reading this file before acting; do not generate from memory.

2. Call aliyun iacservice get-execute-state --state-id {STATE_ID} to get the real deployment status.

3. Generate strictly according to each section of the guide: <project-root>/topology.html, open it in a browser to verify.

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Polling Strategy

IaC Service operations are asynchronous. After submitting a job, poll using sequential MCP calls:

Parameter	Value
First poll delay	Wait ~5 seconds (inform user "Executing...") then call
Poll interval	Every 10 seconds, call get-execute-state again
Max attempts	60 attempts (≈10 minutes)
Timeout action	Report "still running" with {STATE_ID} for manual check

How to poll:

1. Call AlibabaCloud___CallCLI with get-execute-state
2. Check Status in response:
   • "Running" → inform user "Executing..." and call again after brief pause
   • "Succeeded" → proceed to next step
   • "Failed" → extract ErrorMessage, go to Error Handling
3. Repeat until terminal state or max attempts reached

Important: Each poll is a separate AlibabaCloud___CallCLI call. Do NOT use Bash loops or sleep commands.

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Error Handling

Plan Fails

• Record error in tasks/tf-plan-result.md
• Identify root cause from ErrorMessage:

Error Code	Meaning	Action
InvalidTemplate	TF syntax error	Fix TF files and re-validate
QuotaExceeded	Resource quota limit	Inform user to request quota increase
AccessDenied	Permission missing	Invoke alibabacloud-ram-permission-diagnose
ResourceNotFound	Referenced resource missing	Check dependencies
Invalid*Class.Offline, OperationDenied.NoStock, Zone.NotOnSale, etc.	Spec discovered unavailable at plan time	See Spec-driven Failures below
InternalError	Service issue	Retry once after informing user

• Set status back to "plans-written" for re-validation
• Keep state.state_id in status.json if one was already saved from a prior successful run — never delete it on a plan failure. The remote state still exists and the next attempt must continue on it.

Apply Fails

• Record error in tasks/tf-apply-result.md
• Check partial state:

AlibabaCloud___CallCLI:
  command: "aliyun iacservice get-execute-state --state-id {STATE_ID}"

• Classify the failure first, then offer the right options:

Failure class	Examples	Where to go
Spec-driven (resource exists in API catalog but is rejected at create time)	InvalidDBInstanceClass.Offline, OperationDenied.NoStock, Zone.NotOnSale, instance family sold out in target AZ	Spec-driven Failures — MANDATORY source-of-truth sync, do NOT hot-patch
Structural (HCL refers to something that does not exist or has wrong dependencies)	Wrong VPC ID, missing security group reference, circular dependency	Fix HCL in designs/terraform/*.tf, re-run plan/apply (keep state_id)
Permission	AccessDenied, Forbidden, NoPermission	Invoke alibabacloud-spec-ops:alibabacloud-ram-permission-diagnose; once RAM is fixed re-run apply with same state_id
Transient	ServiceUnavailable, intermittent 5xx	Re-run apply once with same state_id

After classification, present these options to the user (in addition to the diagnosed root cause):

1. Apply the spec/HCL fix and retry apply
2. Destroy partially created resources (uses the Destroy gate below)
3. Pause for manual investigation — keep state_id so we can resume

Spec-driven Failures (source-of-truth recovery)

Some Alibaba Cloud resource constraints are only discoverable at apply time — the API lists a SKU as available but CreateInstance returns InvalidDBInstanceClass.Offline; a zone is out of capacity for a specific instance family; an EIP bandwidth-package shape is no longer sold. These are not bugs in the generated code — the design was valid when planning ran, the reality changed (or the catalog lied).

Example diagnostic (from a real session):

✅ 17/21 resources created successfully (VPC, VSwitch, SG+rules, ECS, EIP+association, OSS+ACL, full RAM set, random_string) ❌ RDS instance creation failed → consequently 4 dependencies (account/database/authorization/backup policy) were not created Root cause:mysql.n2.small.1 has been taken offline in cn-beijing-i (the API still lists it, but creation reports InvalidDBInstanceClass.Offline）

Recovery flow (5 steps — every step MANDATORY):

1. Diagnose

From the apply error, extract:

• the resource block (<resource>.<name>) that failed
• the failing spec value (e.g. db_instance_class = "mysql.n2.small.1")
• the region / zone where it failed
• the upstream error code (InvalidDBInstanceClass.Offline, OperationDenied.NoStock, …)

2. Query live alternatives via MCP

Use AlibabaCloud___CallCLI against the right inventory API to find currently-available specs. Pick the API by resource type:

Resource	Query CLI
RDS instance class	aliyun rds DescribeAvailableResource --RegionId <region> --ZoneId <zone> --Engine <engine> --EngineVersion <ver>
ECS instance type	aliyun ecs DescribeAvailableResource --RegionId <region> --ZoneId <zone> --DestinationResource InstanceType --InstanceChargeType <type> (or DescribeRecommendInstanceType)
Disk category	aliyun ecs DescribeAvailableResource --RegionId <region> --ZoneId <zone> --DestinationResource DataDisk
EIP bandwidth	aliyun vpc DescribeBandwidthPackages --RegionId <region>
(other)	Whatever aliyun <service> Describe*Resource / Describe*Availability exists

Filter the response down to specs with the closest match on CPU / memory / IOPS / charge type to the failed one. Pick 1–3 candidates; mark one with ⭐ as the minimal-diff recommendation.

3. Ask the user (explicit, with AskUserQuestion)

Surface diagnosis + candidates as distinct options:

AskUserQuestion:
  question: "RDS 规格 mysql.n2.small.1 在 cn-beijing-i 已下线，apply 中断。要换成下列哪个继续？"
  header: "替代规格"
  options:
    - label: "mysql.n2e.small.1 (推荐)"
      description: "n2e 新一代，同 1C2G 规格，同价位（最小改动）"
    - label: "mysql.x2.medium.1"
      description: "x2 系列，1C2G，新一代主推，价格 +12%"
    - label: "暂停 — 我自己来查"
      description: "保留已创建的 17 个资源和 state_id，稍后我手动决定后再重新触发 apply"

Never auto-pick a replacement, even if "obvious". Spec changes can affect cost, performance, and compliance — the user owns this call.

4. Sync source-of-truth (BOTH design.md AND .tf — non-negotiable)

Once user confirms a replacement, before any re-run:

1. designs/design.md:

   • Update the affected resource entry with the new spec

   • Append to Decisions Log (or create the section if missing):

     - {ISO timestamp}: RDS 实例规格 mysql.n2.small.1 → mysql.n2e.small.1
       原因：原规格在 cn-beijing-i 已下线（apply 时报 InvalidDBInstanceClass.Offline）
       影响：1C2G/同价位，无性能/成本变化
     

2. designs/terraform/*.tf:

   • Replace the failing field value(s); only edit the lines required
   • Do NOT reformat unrelated code; keep the diff minimal so the change is auditable

This is Rule 10. Skipping either file silently breaks Day-2:

• Skip design.md → next Day-2 planning reads stale design and "fixes" the difference back to the broken spec
• Skip .tf → next plan still fails the same way

5. Re-run plan + apply with retained state_id

The original state_id is already in tasks/status.json. Re-enter Step 3 of the main Process with the patched HCL:

AlibabaCloud___CallCLI:
  command: "aliyun iacservice execute-terraform-plan --code '{NEW_CODE}' --state-id {STATE_ID} --client-token {NEW_UUID}"

The 17 already-created resources stay (state remembers them); only the failed 4 + any that depend on them are created. Apply auto-flows per Rule 2.

If the user picked "Paused — I'll investigate myself" in Step 3:

• Leave status: "executing" (do NOT roll back to validated)
• Leave TODO task 3 in_progress
• Tell user how to resume: "state_id has been retained {STATE_ID} and the 17 resources already created. After deciding the specification manually, return to this session and reply "continue apply", and I will resume on the same state with the updated HCL."

Destroy Operations

For terraform destroy (cleanup or rollback):

"⚠️ DESTRUCTIVE OPERATION

This will destroy ALL resources created by this Terraform configuration. This action cannot be undone.

Type the requirement name {name} to confirm destruction:"

Require exact name match before proceeding. Then execute (use a fresh --client-token):

AlibabaCloud___CallCLI:
  command: "aliyun iacservice execute-terraform-destroy --state-id {STATE_ID} --client-token {CLIENT_TOKEN}"

Poll for completion using same strategy as apply.

After destroy succeeds, update tasks/status.json:

{
  ...,
  "status": "destroyed",
  "updated_at": "{ISO timestamp}",
  "state": {
    "state_id": "{STATE_ID}",
    "last_plan_at": "{prior}",
    "last_apply_at": "{prior}",
    "last_destroy_at": "{ISO timestamp}"
  }
}

Keep state.state_id as a historical record — do not clear it. If the user later wants to redeploy fresh (new state), planning will detect status == "destroyed" and prompt for net-new Day-1 vs reuse decision.

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IaC Service MCP Command Reference

All commands use AlibabaCloud___CallCLI with the full CLI string:

Operation	MCP Command
Plan	aliyun iacservice execute-terraform-plan --code '{content}' --client-token {uuid}
Apply	aliyun iacservice execute-terraform-apply --state-id {id} --client-token {uuid}
Poll status	aliyun iacservice get-execute-state --state-id {id}
Destroy	aliyun iacservice execute-terraform-destroy --state-id {id} --client-token {uuid}

Command Parameter Reference

aliyun iacservice execute-terraform-plan

Param	Required	Type	Notes
--client-token	yes	string [0-9a-zA-Z-]{1,64}	Idempotency key, fresh UUID per call
--code	conditional	string	Full Terraform HCL content (concatenated from all .tf files). Required for first plan; on a follow-up plan with unchanged content you may pass only --state-id
--state-id	conditional	string	When non-empty, continue Plan on top of an existing state file

aliyun iacservice execute-terraform-apply

Param	Required	Type	Notes
--client-token	yes	string [0-9a-zA-Z-]{1,64}	Idempotency key, fresh UUID per call
--code	conditional	string	Required only if HCL changed since plan; pass the new concatenated content
--state-id	conditional	string	State ID from the preceding plan; pass it when content is unchanged so Apply continues on the same state

aliyun iacservice execute-terraform-destroy

Param	Required	Type	Notes
--client-token	yes	string [0-9a-zA-Z-]{1,64}	Idempotency key, fresh UUID per call
--state-id	yes	string	State ID of the deployment to tear down

aliyun iacservice get-execute-state

Param	Required	Type	Notes
--state-id	yes	string	State ID returned by the preceding Plan / Apply / Destroy call

⚠️ NEVER:

• Use file:// paths (MCP cannot access local filesystem)
• Use $(cat ...) shell substitution (MCP doesn't support shell operators)
• Use Bash tool to run aliyun commands (always use MCP)
• Pass --region — IaC Service derives the region from the HCL provider "alicloud" block; the CLI does not accept a --region flag here
• Omit --client-token from Plan / Apply / Destroy — it is required for idempotency
• Use --execution-id or --template-body — these are stale names from earlier drafts; the correct parameters are --state-id and --code

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Safety Principles

• Never skip plan — Always plan before apply, and always show plan output to the user
• Auto-apply is the default flow — The deploy authorization is granted ONCE at the validate-stage gate; do NOT add a second confirmation between plan and apply. The user can still interrupt mid-stream; the safety override in Step 4 covers unexpected destructive changes.
• Never silent destroy — Destroy (Rule 8) requires explicit naming confirmation; this is independent of the plan→apply auto-flow
• Always use MCP — Never run aliyun CLI via Bash; always via AlibabaCloud___CallCLI
• Always inline content — Read files first, pass content as string to MCP
• Always record — Every operation logged to tasks/
• Always poll — Don't assume completion; verify state via MCP
• Always persist state_id — Write to tasks/status.json → state.state_id immediately after every plan response; never proceed without saving
• Never orphan remote state — Keep state.state_id across re-iterations and even after destroy (historical record); only the user may decide to discard it
• Fail safe — On error, stop and inform user; don't retry blindly