For most OpenTofu work, use the default tofu plan: it refreshes the state view from remote objects and proposes changes without applying them. Use -refresh-only when you want to record intentional out-of-band changes in state, and -destroy only when you intend to plan removal of managed objects. Keep backend-supported state locking enabled. Treat -refresh=false and saved plan files as exceptions that need deliberate handling.
What a plan does—and does not do
A normal plan reads the current settings of existing remote objects, compares them with OpenTofu’s prior state and your configuration, then proposes actions to bring remote infrastructure in line with that configuration. Running tofu plan alone does not carry out those actions. A direct tofu apply normally generates a plan and asks for approval before executing it. See OpenTofu’s plan command reference.
Planning behavior applies to the selected working directory and workspace. Backend support also affects whether state locking is available. OpenTofu’s init command reference and workspace documentation cover those parts of the workflow. Check the documentation for your installed release when exact behavior matters; command details and deprecation status can change.
Choose the plan mode that matches your goal
The normal, destroy, and refresh-only modes answer different questions. The alternative modes are mutually exclusive, and are available to tofu plan and to tofu apply when apply is not given a previously saved plan file. The planning-modes reference describes them.
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| Mode | Command | What the plan proposes | When it fits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Normal (default) | tofu plan |
Actions to make remote objects match the configuration, based on a refreshed state view. | Routine review of intended infrastructure changes. |
| Destroy | tofu plan -destroy |
Destruction of remote objects currently tracked by OpenTofu. | When you intentionally want to review a plan to remove managed objects. Applying it is destructive. |
| Refresh-only | tofu plan -refresh-only |
An update to OpenTofu state and root-module outputs to reflect remote changes made outside the usual workflow. | After an intentional console-side change or incident response, when state should record what now exists. |
A refresh-only plan is not a way to turn refresh off. It makes state and output reconciliation the plan’s purpose. By contrast, normal mode may propose infrastructure actions to make reality match configuration. Review the refresh-only proposal before applying it.
Refresh: keep it on by default
Normal planning refreshes the state view by reading remote objects before comparing configuration. This helps the plan account for changes made outside OpenTofu. The flag -refresh=false skips that refresh step; it can reduce remote API requests, but the resulting plan may be incomplete or incorrect if the remote environment changed. It is not a general-purpose speed setting, and it cannot be used with -refresh-only.
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Use -refresh=false only when you deliberately accept that trade-off and understand the consequences for the specific run. If plans behave as though refresh is disabled even when the command you typed does not say so, inspect automation and environment defaults: TF_CLI_ARGS_plan can inject options into plan invocations, including -refresh=false. The environment-variable reference explains this mechanism.
State locking: protect shared state
For operations that could write state, OpenTofu automatically acquires a lock when the configured backend supports locking. That prevents a second operation from taking the same lock while the first is working. If lock acquisition fails, OpenTofu does not continue. Not every backend supports locking, so confirm the behavior for the backend you use in the state-locking documentation.
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The -lock=false option disables locking for most commands, and OpenTofu’s documentation discourages it. Avoid it whenever another operator or automation could act on the same workspace: concurrent state operations risk corruption. For temporary contention, use -lock-timeout=DURATION to retry acquiring a supported lock before returning an error, for example:
tofu plan -lock-timeout=30sThe timeout is a wait-and-retry period, not a guarantee that a lock will become available. Defaults can vary by command; for example, the init command reference reports 0s for its own timeout option, so do not assume one default applies everywhere.
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If automatic unlocking fails, tofu force-unlock takes a unique lock ID. Use it only for your own lock after automatic unlocking has failed. Unlocking a lock held by another operator can allow multiple writers and put state at risk.
Speculative plans and saved plan files
Without -out=FILE, tofu plan produces a speculative plan: a preview of expected effects, not an artifact intended for later application. A speculative plan can become stale if infrastructure changes after it was generated, so check a final plan before applying.
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With -out=FILE, OpenTofu saves an opaque plan artifact that can later be passed to tofu apply:
tofu plan -out=tfplan
tofu apply tfplanThis supports review and automation workflows, but the file can contain configuration, planned values, and options, including sensitive values in cleartext even when terminal output redacts them. Restrict access and do not casually attach plan files to tickets or logs. Applying a saved plan uses that artifact; generating a new plan instead recalculates against then-current conditions. See the plan command reference.
Prefer refresh-only planning over the deprecated refresh command
The separate tofu refresh command is deprecated because it updates state from remote object settings without first offering a chance to review the effects. OpenTofu describes it as effectively equivalent to tofu apply -refresh-only -auto-approve. A provider-credential problem can lead OpenTofu to conclude that managed objects were deleted and remove them from tracked state without a confirmation prompt.
For a reviewable reconciliation, use tofu apply -refresh-only instead. It presents the detected changes for confirmation before updating state. The refresh command documentation explains the deprecation and its risk.
Quick Recap
Quick command guide
tofu plan— create a normal plan, refreshing state first; does not apply the proposal.tofu plan -refresh=false— skip remote refresh, accepting the risk of a plan that misses external changes.tofu plan -refresh-only— preview state and root-output reconciliation after remote changes.tofu plan -destroy— preview destruction of tracked objects; applying the plan removes them.tofu plan -lock-timeout=30s— retry lock acquisition for up to the specified period, if the backend supports locking.tofu apply -refresh-only— review and approve a state reconciliation.
