Re-running Init Safely

Re-running npx deploy-stack to change region, size, or framework is safe and predictable: setup never merges with your existing generated files. It backs them up, regenerates from scratch, and tells you exactly what moved.

The conflict prompt

When setup finds any of terraform/, Dockerfile, or .github/workflows/deploy.yml in the target directory (src/utils/backup.js), it lists the conflicts and offers two choices:

• Backup & Regenerate — each conflicting path is renamed with a timestamp suffix (e.g. terraform.bak.1726771200000), then fresh files are generated.
• Cancel — exits immediately with no changes.

In --headless mode there is no prompt: existing files are backed up automatically. Either way, nothing is ever merged or partially overwritten.

Backups stay local

After backing up, setup appends a # deploy-stack backups block (*.bak.*) to .gitignore (creating the file if needed), so backup clutter never reaches GitHub. To recover a previous configuration, compare with diff -r terraform.bak.<timestamp> terraform/ and copy back what you need — then delete the .bak.* directory when you are satisfied. (npx deploy-stack eject removes all *.bak.* files as part of decoupling.)

What regeneration touches

src/utils/generator.js writes a fixed file set and handles pre-existing files explicitly:

• terraform/*.tf, Dockerfile, .github/workflows/deploy.yml, plus preview.yml/teardown.yml only when PR previews are enabled.
• terraform/secret_keys.json is reset to [] — re-push secrets afterward with npx deploy-stack secrets push.
• If your repo already has a README.md, it is kept and gets a short Deployment pointer appended; the generated guide goes to DEPLOYMENT.md instead.
• Existing .gitignore / .dockerignore files are preserved with only the deploy-stack entries appended (Terraform state paths, .env); missing ones are created with framework-appropriate presets.
• Rails only: if ci.yml or dependabot.yml exist, setup asks whether to disable them by renaming to .bak (default CI usually crashes without a database service); in headless mode they are disabled automatically.

Suggested workflow

1. Commit your work before re-running, so git status shows exactly what regeneration changed.
2. Re-run, review the diff (git diff, plus diff -r against the .bak copies for untracked files like terraform/ internals).
3. Run npx deploy-stack apply to converge AWS with the new configuration.
4. Delete the .bak.<timestamp> copies once the new infrastructure is verified.

See also

• apply for converging AWS after regeneration.
• eject for what happens to backups on decoupling.