---
name: schematics-getting-started-terraform
title: Using workspaces to deploy infrastructure and cloud services
description: Use one of the IBM provided templates to create an IBM Cloud® Object Storage service instance that you can use to store your data in IBM Cloud or you can use pre-built and open-source Terraform IBM Cloud Object Storage module to provision [IBM Cloud® Object Storage] resources.
last-updated: 2026-03-03
---

> ## Documentation Index
> The table of contents for this documentation set is at https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/schematics?format=markdown
> The index for all IBM Cloud docs is at: https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use these files to discover more information as needed.

# Using workspaces to deploy infrastructure and cloud services
{: #get-started-terraform}

Use one of the IBM provided templates to create an [IBM Cloud® Object Storage](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/cloud-object-storage?topic=cloud-object-storage-about-cloud-object-storage&format=markdown){: external} service instance that you can use to store your data in IBM Cloud or you can use pre-built and open-source [Terraform IBM Cloud Object Storage](https://registry.terraform.io/modules/terraform-ibm-modules/cos/ibm/latest){: external} module to provision [IBM Cloud® Object Storage] resources.
{: shortdesc}

The IBM Cloud Schematics template is a set of files that define the Cloud resources that you want to create, update, or delete. You create a Schematics workspace that points to your template and use the built-in capabilities of the IBM Cloud provider plug-in for Terraform to provision your Cloud resources. For more information about the provider and how Schematics spins up your Cloud resources, see [Infrastructure deployment with Schematics workspaces](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/schematics?topic=schematics-how-it-works&format=markdown#how-to-workspaces){: external}.

## Before you begin
{: #prereq}

Before you can use this template, you must complete the following tasks.
{: shortdesc}

- Make sure that you have the permissions to [create a Schematics workspace](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/schematics?topic=schematics-access&format=markdown#access-roles). 
- Make sure that you have the permissions to [create an IBM Cloud Object Storage instance](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/cloud-object-storage?topic=cloud-object-storage-fgac-iam-access-conditions&format=markdown).

## Creating an IBM Cloud Object Storage instance with Schematics
{: #create-cos}

Use the IBM provided Terraform template to provision an IBM Cloud Object Storage instance with a Schematics workspace.
{: shortdesc}

1. From the [Schematics workspaces dashboard](https://cloud.ibm.com/automation/schematics/terraform){: external}, click **Create workspace**.
2. In **Specify template** section. Enter **GitHub, GitLab, or `Bitbucket` Repository URL** as shown in the example.

    ```text
    https://github.com/IBM-Cloud/terraform-provider-ibm/tree/master/examples/ibm-resource-instance
    ```
    {: codeblock}

3. Select `terraform_v1.4` from the **Terraform version** drop down.
4. Click **Next**.
5. In the **Workspace details** section, enter your **Workspace name**, **Tags**, **Resource group**, **Location**, and **Description**.

    Ensure you provide the resource group, and the location where you want to create the workspace.
    {: note}

6. Click **Next** and then click **Create** to create Schematics workspaces successfully.
7. In the **Variables** section, template variables are displayed. Optionally, override the variables by referring the [readme file](https://github.com/IBM-Cloud/terraform-provider-ibm/tree/master/examples/ibm-resource-instance){: external}.

    If you already have an existing IBM Cloud Object Storage instance in your account, you must enter `standard` in the **plan** field.
    {: tip}

8. Click **Generate plan** to see the plan is generated successfully.
9. Click **Apply plan**. This process might take a few minutes to complete. Click **Jobs** to see the details of the provisioning process.

### Output
{: #create-cos-output}

View the provisioned IBM Cloud Object Storage instance.

1. From the [Cloud resource list](https://cloud.ibm.com/resources){: external}, select the **Storage** to view the provisioned IBM Cloud Object Storage instance.
2. For more information about create IBM Cloud Object Storage bucket, see [create some buckets to store your data](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/cloud-object-storage?topic=cloud-object-storage-getting-started-cloud-object-storage&format=markdown#gs-create-buckets){: external}.

You used the built-in Terraform capabilities of Schematics to create an IBM Cloud Object Storage service instance in your IBM Cloud account.

## What's next?
{: #whats-next-gs}

Now that you created your first Cloud resource with Schematics, you can explore the following options.

- Try out this [IBM-provided template](https://github.com/IBM-Cloud/terraform-provider-ibm/tree/master/examples/ibm-cos-bucket){: external} to create a bucket in the IBM Cloud Object Storage instance that you created with Schematics.
- Learn how to [create your own Terraform template](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/schematics?topic=schematics-create-tf-config&format=markdown).
- Explore other [IBM-provided templates](https://github.com/IBM-Cloud/terraform-provider-ibm/tree/master/examples){: external}.
- Explore [Terraform IBM Modules](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/ibm-cloud-provider-for-terraform?topic=ibm-cloud-provider-for-terraform-about-tim&format=markdown) for pre-built, enterprise-ready infrastructure automation modules.
- Set up the Schematics [CLI](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/schematics?topic=schematics-setup-cli&format=markdown) or [API](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/schematics?topic=schematics-setup-api&format=markdown) to start automating Cloud resources.