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Input Adapters (Read-Only) — Terraform Plan JSON + Rendered Ansible Output

This feature lets Cassian Gate ingest external change context such as Terraform plan JSON and rendered Ansible output as non-authoritative, advisory-only metadata.

Adapters are designed to improve:

  • change-scope visibility (what appears to be changing)
  • advisory preflight context
  • advisory AI context for human review

They do not change:

  • lifecycle phases
  • test or scenario selection
  • pass/fail verdicts
  • authoritative gate meaning
  • exit semantics of cassian test

Adapters are read-only, offline-first, deterministic parsers.

Authority boundary (non-negotiable)

Adapters must not:

  • select tests or scenarios automatically
  • gate runs or affect CI verdicts
  • mutate topology YAML
  • apply configs or run Terraform or Ansible
  • infer vendor semantics beyond the provided input text

All adapter outputs are supporting context only.

They remain:

  • advisory
  • explicitly supplied
  • outside the authoritative gate chain

Commands

Terraform plan JSON adapter

Input: JSON output from Terraform, for example terraform show -json <planfile>.

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cassian adapt terraform --plan /path/to/plan.json

Options:

  • --out <dir>
  • --strict

Typical output filename:

  • terraform.plan.adapter.json

Rendered Ansible output adapter

Input: a directory containing rendered outputs such as template results, not live device state.

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cassian adapt ansible --dir /path/to/rendered_dir

Options:

  • --out <dir>
  • --strict

Typical output filename:

  • ansible.rendered.adapter.json

Notes:

  • file selection is deterministic
  • outputs may include file-level traceability metadata

Using adapters with preflight (advisory-only)

Adapters are never auto-discovered. Pass them explicitly when you want preflight to include adapter context.

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cassian preflight topologies/three-frr-two-hosts-fw-routed.yaml \
  --adapter artifacts/adapters/terraform.plan.adapter.json \
  --adapter artifacts/adapters/ansible.rendered.adapter.json \
  --format json

Rules:

  • unreadable or missing adapter paths are treated as preflight input errors
  • adapter parse issues remain advisory context, not validation verdicts
  • adapters do not make preflight authoritative

Using adapters with AI (advisory-only)

Adapters can also be supplied as advisory context for artifact-based AI interpretation workflows.

Use the current cassian ai surface together with the relevant artifact or lab path, and include adapters only when you want extra change-context during explanation or review.

Examples of the current AI entrypoint:

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cassian ai --artifacts <artifacts-dir> "what should I prove first"

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cassian ai --lab <lab> "why did this fail"

Rules:

  • adapters remain optional context only
  • adapters never affect gate results
  • cassian test remains the sole authoritative validation gate
  • AI remains advisory-only whether adapters are present or not

Run adapters and preflight as separate advisory steps before the authoritative gate.

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# Produce adapter inputs in your pipeline.
terraform show -json plan.out > plan.json

# Convert to normalized advisory context.
cassian adapt terraform --plan plan.json

# Optional: preflight with adapter context.
cassian preflight topologies/<topology>.yaml \
  --adapter artifacts/adapters/terraform.plan.adapter.json \
  --format json

# Authoritative gate.
cassian test <topology.yaml>

Important:

  • adapter parsing is file-based advisory context
  • adapters are not required to run the gate
  • the only authoritative inputs remain topologies/*.yaml and src/*
  • release docs and adapter outputs do not become authoritative proof