Core Concepts

StackTest operates on a set of provider-neutral core concepts that separate the test orchestration engine from cloud-specific logic.

Before deploying templates, it helps to understand these primary abstractions:

1. Test Projects: Defined by the project node in configuration. Collects multiple suites under a single namespace.
2. Test Runs: An execution of the planned deployment matrix, marked by a unique runtime ID.
3. Providers: Concrete deployment plugins (e.g. AWS CloudFormation, Terraform, Pulumi) that manage resources.
4. Regions: The targeting environments or cloud locations where resources are deployed.
5. Parameters: Key-value settings injected into templates during creation, including dynamic values.
6. Artifacts: Staging buckets and files created temporarily for templates.
7. Reports: Outputs (JSON, HTML, XML) documenting the run execution.
8. Cleanup & Destroy: The teardown flow that executes safely using tag-scoped gates.