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A Packer template that worked yesterday can fail today because of plugin drift. Declare plugin sources and version constraints with required_plugins, then enforce packer init and packer validate in CI.
A decision guide for standardizing on Packer HCL2 templates: constraints, a comparison with legacy JSON and script wrappers, a concrete validated template, and CI checks before promotion.
Stop duplicating Packer templates per environment. Typed HCL2 variables, templatefile() for external scripts, and post‑processors turn one template into a small image factory.
Marking Packer variables as sensitive redacts values from logs and manifests but does not encrypt secrets or stop provisioners from leaking them. This architecture note covers requirements, minimal design, and failure modes.