Merge pull request #433 from runatlantis/checkout-strategy

Document checkout strategy

runatlantis.io/.vuepress/config.js

@@ -81,6 +81,7 @@ module.exports = {
                         ['how-atlantis-works', 'Overview'],
                         'locking',
                         'autoplanning',
+                        'checkout-strategy',
                         'security'
                     ]
                 }

runatlantis.io/docs/checkout-strategy.md

@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+# Checkout Strategy
+
+You can configure how Atlantis checks out the code from your pull request via
+the `--checkout-strategy` flag or the `ATLANTIS_CHECKOUT_STRATEGY` environment
+variable that get passed to the `atlantis server` command.
+
+Atlantis supports `branch` and `merge` strategies.
+
+## Branch
+If set to `branch` (the default), Atlantis will check out the source branch
+of the pull request.
+
+For example, given the following git history:
+![Git History](./images/branch-strategy.png)
+
+If the pull request was asking to merge `branch` into `master`,
+Atlantis would check out `branch` at commit `C3`.
+
+## Merge
+The problem with the `branch` strategy, is that if users push branches that are
+out of date with `master`, then their `terraform plan` could be deleting
+some resources that were configured in the master branch.
+
+For example, in the above diagram if commits `C4` and `C5` have modified the
+terraform state and added new resources, then when Atlantis runs `terraform plan`
+at commit `C3`, because the code doesn't have the changes from `C4` and `C5`,
+Terraform will try to delete those resources.
+
+To fix this, users could merge `master` into their branch, *or* you can run
+Atlantis with `--checkout-strategy=merge`. With this strategy, Atlantis will
+try to perform a merge locally by:
+
+* Checking out the destination branch of the pull request (ex. `master`)
+* Locally performing a `git merge {source branch}`
+* Then running its Terraform commands
+
+In this example, the code that Atlantis would be operating on would look like:
+![Git History](./images/merge-strategy.png)
+Where Atlantis is using its local commit `C6`.
+
+:::tip NOTE
+Atlantis doesn't actually commit this merge anywhere. It just uses it locally.
+:::
+
+:::warning
+Atlantis only performs this merge during the `terraform plan` phase. If another
+commit is pushed to `master` **after** Atlantis runs `plan`, nothing will happen.
+:::