nova-platform/terraform/bootstrap

Nova Bootstrap Runbook

Phase 4 bootstraps the AWS state backend + the spike runner IAM user for the nova-platform. Two scripts create the infrastructure exactly once; after that, the rotated spike-runner key is used for all platform + CI operations.

Spike scope (D-025): onboarding uses a cross-account IAM role (not OIDC). The consumer's CI runner assumes the deploy role via sts assume-role using the platform runner user's static credentials. Real OIDC federation is the production path, OOS for nova v1.0.

State backend (D-022)

create_state_backend.py creates (idempotent):

• S3 bucket nova-tfstate-<account>-<region> (versioned) — holds all Terraform state files (platform/terraform.tfstate, spike/ci-vpc/terraform.tfstate, spike/microservice/<env>/terraform.tfstate).
• DynamoDB table nova-tfstate-locks — the dedicated Terraform state lock table (NOT nova-outbox — the outbox is OOS for nova v1.0). The S3 backend lock_table attribute points to this table.

The account + region are resolved from the caller's live credentials (sts:GetCallerIdentity) — NO hardcoded account ID. A marker file terraform/bootstrap/.bootstrap_state.json records the created bucket + table names (gitignored).

IAM runner (D-026)

create_iam_user.py creates:

• IAM user nova-spike-runner.
• Inline/managed policy nova-spike-runner-policy from terraform/bootstrap/spike_runner_policy.json. The JSON uses ${account_id} and ${region} placeholders (NOT hardcoded — D-026); create_iam_user.py substitutes the live account ID + region before attaching the policy.
• Initial access key (printed to stdout; capture or rotate via rotate_spike_key.sh).

Policy scope (D-026)

The spike_runner_policy.json grants the runner the Terraform-deployable permissions it needs to apply the platform + L2 module stacks:

Service	Granted	Notes
S3	✅	State bucket nova-tfstate-<account>-<region>
DynamoDB	✅	Lock table nova-tfstate-locks (D-022)
ECS	✅	Clusters + services + task definitions
ECR	✅	Repositories + images
ELB	✅	ALBs + target groups + listeners
IAM	✅	Roles + policies (Terraform-managed)
EC2	✅	VPCs + subnets + SGs + route tables
CloudFront	✅	Distributions
WAF	✅	Web ACLs
KMS	✅	Customer-managed keys + aliases
Lambda	❌ DROP	Platform Lambda OOS (D-023)
Secrets Mgr	❌ DROP	OOS
SNS	❌ DROP	OOS
CostExplorer	❌ DROP	OOS
OIDC provider	❌ DROP	Onboarding uses assume-role (D-025)

NOVA_BOOTSTRAP_AWS_* fallback

The bootstrap scripts accept the root-credential pair via the NOVA_BOOTSTRAP_AWS_* env vars (never committed, never echoed):

export NOVA_BOOTSTRAP_AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID="<root key>"
export NOVA_BOOTSTRAP_AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY="<root secret>"
export AWS_DEFAULT_REGION="us-east-1"

These are the bootstrap-only credentials (used exactly once to create the state backend + spike runner). The fallback precedence is:

1. NOVA_BOOTSTRAP_AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID / NOVA_BOOTSTRAP_AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY (bootstrap root key — highest priority).
2. Standard AWS_* env vars / ~/.aws/credentials profile (for re-running scripts later with the rotated runner key).

Steps

1. Set the bootstrap root key in env (never commit, never echo):

   export NOVA_BOOTSTRAP_AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID="<root key>"
   export NOVA_BOOTSTRAP_AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY="<root secret>"
   export AWS_DEFAULT_REGION="us-east-1"
   

2. Create the state backend (S3 bucket + DynamoDB lock table):

   python3 terraform/bootstrap/create_state_backend.py
   

   Idempotent; writes terraform/bootstrap/.bootstrap_state.json marker.

3. Create the IAM user + scoped policy + initial key:

   python3 terraform/bootstrap/create_iam_user.py
   

   Prints NOVA_AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=<...> + NOVA_AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=<...> to stdout (capture if you want the initial key; rotate it before use).

4. Rotate the spike key (creates a new key, deactivates+deletes old, writes the new key to gitignored .env.secrets):

   bash scripts/rotate_spike_key.sh
   

5. Verify (manual): confirm the caller identity is nova-spike-runner (not root); the S3 bucket + DynamoDB table + IAM user + scoped policy all exist; .env.secrets + .bootstrap_state.json are gitignored.

6. MANUAL: rotate/deactivate the root key in the AWS IAM console (the user does this, not the script). The bootstrap root key has now served its one-shot purpose; the spike uses the rotated nova-spike-runner key for all subsequent operations.

Onboarding (D-025)

Consumer onboarding is handled by terraform/onboarding/main.tf, which creates a per-consumer IAM role (not a user) with a trust policy allowing the platform runner user to assume it via sts:AssumeRole (cross-account assume-role pattern). NO OIDC. See the onboarding root for variable documentation (consumer_repo, owner_id, account_id, region, runner_user_arn).