How to get an execution plan with a remote backend

Problem:  You cannot use -outfile with a remote backend, but may want the execution plan. 

Solution: You can retrieve the json execution plan via this API call, but it requires admin permissions on the workspace.

You can get the plan-id required by using the runs API and then use that plan to get the json execution plan

This endpoint cannot be accessed with organization tokens. You must access it with a user token or team token that has admin level access to the workspace.

For example the below curl command works when you are using an admin token

curl \
--header "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
--header "Content-Type: application/vnd.api+json" \
--location \
https://app.terraform.io/api/v2/plans/plan-8F5JFydVYAmtTjET/json-output |
> json-output.json

Note : The JSON plan contains potentially sensitive information, including the values of sensitive variables and copies of the prior and post-refresh state. This is why the JSON plan isn't accessible without elevated permissions.

Documentation:

• Show a plan

• Get run details