Most infrastructure CD tools ask you to change the way you write Terraform. Some require a proprietary wrapper CLI. Others impose a specific directory layout, inject custom backends, or parse plans through a format only they understand. The trade-off is always the same: you get orchestration, but your code now only works inside that tool's ecosystem.
Snap CD takes a different approach. It orchestrates deployments without modifying how Terraform runs. Your code stays portable, your commands stay standard, and nothing is hidden behind an abstraction you can't inspect.
The lock-in pattern
Infrastructure CD tools typically insert themselves between you and Terraform in one or more of these ways:
Wrapper CLIs. Instead of terraform plan, you run toolname plan or toolname run -- terraform plan. The wrapper intercepts the command, adds flags, manages state configuration, and sometimes alters the output. Your CI pipeline, your local workflow, and your debugging sessions all depend on the wrapper being present.
