How to store Terraform state and prevent conflicts during parallel work?

To store Terraform state and prevent conflicts during parallel work, a remote backend storage with support for locks is usually used. For example:

• Backend: Amazon S3, Azure Blob Storage, Google Cloud Storage, or HashiCorp Consul.
• Locks: DynamoDB (for S3), built-in locking mechanisms in Terraform Cloud, or Consul.

This allows multiple developers to work with a single state, with locking preventing simultaneous modifications of the state file, thereby avoiding conflicts.

Example of a backend configuration for S3 with locking via DynamoDB:

terraform {
  backend "s3" {
    bucket         = "my-terraform-state"
    key            = "project/terraform.tfstate"
    region         = "us-east-1"
    dynamodb_table = "terraform-locks"
    encrypt        = true
  }
}

Thus, the state is stored centrally, and locks ensure sequential access.