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GLOSSARY · I

Infrastructure as Code (IaC)

Defining cloud infrastructure (VPCs, instances, IAM, DNS) in version-controlled files so it's reproducible, reviewable, and reversible.

Definition

Infrastructure as Code (IaC) is the practice of declaring infrastructure, networks, compute, IAM, DNS, databases, in version-controlled text files (Terraform HCL, CloudFormation YAML, Pulumi, CDK) and applying those declarations through a CLI or pipeline rather than clicking around in the cloud console. The declared state is reviewable in PRs, reproducible across environments, and reversible via Git revert. IaC is the foundation that GitOps and disaster recovery both depend on.

Why it matters

ClickOps (configuring the cloud through the console) doesn't scale: the team forgets what was clicked, environments drift, disaster recovery is impossible because there's no source of truth to rebuild from. IaC turns infrastructure into a software artifact, with all the rigor that brings, and unlocks both reproducible environments and recoverable disasters.

How Nova handles it

See the part of the platform that handles infrastructure as code (iac) in production.

Nova AI audit trail