mars

name	mars
description	Use the mars infrastructure tool for terraform, ansible, and packer operations

Mars CLI Reference

Mars wraps terraform, ansible, and packer in Docker with environment management.

Command Structure

mars <env> <command> [options]

Where <env> is the target environment (e.g., dev, staging, prod, default).

Terraform Commands

mars <env> init                           # Initialize terraform
mars <env> init --upgrade                 # Upgrade providers
mars <env> init --reconfigure             # Reconfigure backend
mars <env> plan                           # Show planned changes
mars <env> plan --apply                   # Plan then apply (interactive prompt)
# NOTE: --approve is NOT valid with plan. Use "apply --approve" to skip prompts.
mars <env> plan --target=<resource>       # Target specific resource
mars <env> plan --destroy                 # Plan destruction
mars <env> apply                          # Apply changes (prompts)
mars <env> apply --approve                # Apply without confirmation
mars <env> destroy                        # Destroy infrastructure
mars <env> terraform output <name>        # Get output value
mars <env> new-workspace                  # Create new workspace
mars <env> import <addr> <id>             # Import existing resource
mars <env> taint <resource>               # Mark for recreation

Ansible Commands

# Run playbook
mars <env> ansible-playbook playbook.yaml
mars <env> ansible-playbook -vvvv playbook.yaml   # Debug verbosity

# With AWS Secrets Manager vault
mars <env> ansible-playbook \
  --aws-sm-secret-id="<secret-id>" \
  --aws-region="<region>" \
  --aws-role-arn="<role-arn>" \
  playbook.yaml

# Vault operations
mars <env> ansible-vault-encrypt --aws-sm-secret-id="<id>" --aws-region="<region>"
mars <env> ansible-vault-decrypt --aws-sm-secret-id="<id>" --aws-region="<region>"
mars <env> ansible-vault-decrypt-key --aws-sm-secret-id="<id>" --aws-region="<region>" file.yaml key

# Ad-hoc command
mars <env> ansible-execute <host-pattern> -m <module> -a "<args>"

# Playbook options
--tags=<tag>              # Run specific tags
--limit=<pattern>         # Limit to hosts
--check                   # Dry run
--start-at-task=<name>    # Resume from task

Environment Variables

MARS_DEBUG=true           # Enable debug output (set -x)
MARS_SHELL=true           # Drop into bash shell in container
MARS_LOCAL=true           # Use local ansible transport
MARS_NETWORK=<name>       # Use specific docker network
MARS_DEV=true             # Mount local mars source for development
MARS_DEV_ROOT=<path>      # Path to mars source (with MARS_DEV)
TF_LOG=DEBUG              # Terraform debug logging

File Structure

Terraform projects expect:

• .terraform-version - Required, specifies terraform version
• vars/common/*.tfvars - Shared variables
• vars/<env>/*.tfvars - Environment-specific variables

Ansible projects expect:

• inventories/<env>/ - Inventory files
• inventories/<env>/mars.yaml - Optional mars config (ssh_user, script path)
• *_vault_password.txt or vault_password.txt - Local vault password (if not using cloud vault)

Raw Terraform Access

For direct terraform commands, use -- to prevent mars from parsing flags:

mars <env> terraform -- providers --help