Running terragrunt destroy on a single folder will evaluate all folders

[daniel-anova]

Describe the bug

When running terragrunt destroy (and likely other commands) on a folder it will needlessly recursively evaluate all upper level folders delaying the operation and sometimes entering a processing loop (didn't manage to create a simple case for that).

While not evident in the example this can add minutes to the run if the upper level folder has many folders with complex terragrunt.hcl.

Steps To Reproduce

Run terragrunt destroy --terragrunt-log-level debug on a single folder, terragrunt will evaluate the current folder then begin evaluating all folders a level above.

# deployment on each of the numbered folders in path folder/$number, module is just an empty main.tf
terraform {
  source = "../../module"
}

include {
  path   = find_in_parent_folders()
  expose = true
}

# base terragrunt.hcl
locals {}

Example code: terragrunt-bug.zip

tg/folder/one> terragrunt destroy --terragrunt-log-level debug
10:16:02.314 DEBUG  Terragrunt Version: 0.69.9
10:16:02.314 DEBUG  Did not find any locals block: skipping evaluation.
10:16:02.314 DEBUG  Detected single bare include block - exposing as top level
10:16:02.314 DEBUG  Found locals block: evaluating the expressions.
10:16:02.314 DEBUG  Found locals block: evaluating the expressions.
10:16:02.315 DEBUG  Found locals block: evaluating the expressions.
10:16:02.315 DEBUG  [Partial] Included config ../../terragrunt.hcl has strategy shallow merge: merging config in (shallow).
10:16:02.315 DEBUG  Running command: tofu --version
10:16:02.315 DEBUG  Engine is not enabled, running command directly in .
10:16:02.333 DEBUG  tofu version: 1.8.7
10:16:02.333 DEBUG  Reading Terragrunt config file at ./terragrunt.hcl
10:16:02.334 DEBUG  Did not find any locals block: skipping evaluation.
10:16:02.334 DEBUG  Detected single bare include block - exposing as top level
10:16:02.334 DEBUG  Found locals block: evaluating the expressions.
10:16:02.334 DEBUG  Found locals block: evaluating the expressions.
10:16:02.334 DEBUG  [Partial] Included config ../../terragrunt.hcl has strategy shallow merge: merging config in (shallow).
10:16:02.334 DEBUG  Did not find any locals block: skipping evaluation.
10:16:02.335 DEBUG  Detected single bare include block - exposing as top level
10:16:02.335 DEBUG  Found locals block: evaluating the expressions.
10:16:02.335 DEBUG  Found locals block: evaluating the expressions.
10:16:02.335 DEBUG  Included config ../../terragrunt.hcl has strategy shallow merge: merging config in (shallow) for dependency.
10:16:02.335 DEBUG  Detected single bare include block - exposing as top level
10:16:02.335 DEBUG  Found locals block: evaluating the expressions.
10:16:02.337 DEBUG  Found locals block: evaluating the expressions.
10:16:02.337 DEBUG  Included config ../../terragrunt.hcl has strategy shallow merge: merging config in (shallow).
10:16:02.338 DEBUG  tofu files in ../../../../../.cache/terragrunt/downloads/IgLK4KSTuNK_msXDl0gRsqsH7Zc/LQsymLGlJTaFUPqoAlb9T_RGCWM are up to date. Will not download again.
10:16:02.338 DEBUG  Copying files from . into ../../../../../.cache/terragrunt/downloads/IgLK4KSTuNK_msXDl0gRsqsH7Zc/LQsymLGlJTaFUPqoAlb9T_RGCWM
10:16:02.338 DEBUG  Setting working directory to ../../../../../.cache/terragrunt/downloads/IgLK4KSTuNK_msXDl0gRsqsH7Zc/LQsymLGlJTaFUPqoAlb9T_RGCWM
10:16:02.339 DEBUG  Running command: git rev-parse --show-toplevel
10:16:02.339 DEBUG  Command output will be suppressed.
10:16:02.342 DEBUG  [../..] Found locals block: evaluating the expressions.
10:16:02.342 DEBUG  [../..] Setting download directory for module . to ../../.terragrunt-cache
10:16:02.342 DEBUG  Module ../.. does not have an associated terraform configuration and will be skipped.
10:16:02.342 DEBUG  [../eight] Did not find any locals block: skipping evaluation.
10:16:02.342 DEBUG  [../eight] Detected single bare include block - exposing as top level
10:16:02.342 DEBUG  [../eight] Found locals block: evaluating the expressions.
10:16:02.343 DEBUG  [../eight] Found locals block: evaluating the expressions.
10:16:02.343 DEBUG  [../eight] [Partial] Included config ../../terragrunt.hcl has strategy shallow merge: merging config in (shallow).
10:16:02.343 DEBUG  [../eight] Setting download directory for module ../eight to ../eight/.terragrunt-cache
10:16:02.343 DEBUG  [../five] Did not find any locals block: skipping evaluation.
10:16:02.343 DEBUG  [../five] Detected single bare include block - exposing as top level
10:16:02.344 DEBUG  [../five] Found locals block: evaluating the expressions.
10:16:02.344 DEBUG  [../five] Found locals block: evaluating the expressions.
10:16:02.344 DEBUG  [../five] [Partial] Included config ../../terragrunt.hcl has strategy shallow merge: merging config in (shallow).
10:16:02.344 DEBUG  [../five] Setting download directory for module ../five to ../five/.terragrunt-cache
10:16:02.344 DEBUG  [../four] Did not find any locals block: skipping evaluation.
10:16:02.344 DEBUG  [../four] Detected single bare include block - exposing as top level
10:16:02.345 DEBUG  [../four] Found locals block: evaluating the expressions.
10:16:02.345 DEBUG  [../four] Found locals block: evaluating the expressions.
10:16:02.345 DEBUG  [../four] [Partial] Included config ../../terragrunt.hcl has strategy shallow merge: merging config in (shallow).
10:16:02.345 DEBUG  [../four] Setting download directory for module ../four to ../four/.terragrunt-cache
10:16:02.346 DEBUG  [../nine] Did not find any locals block: skipping evaluation.
10:16:02.346 DEBUG  [../nine] Detected single bare include block - exposing as top level
10:16:02.346 DEBUG  [../nine] Found locals block: evaluating the expressions.
10:16:02.346 DEBUG  [../nine] Found locals block: evaluating the expressions.
10:16:02.346 DEBUG  [../nine] [Partial] Included config ../../terragrunt.hcl has strategy shallow merge: merging config in (shallow).
10:16:02.347 DEBUG  [../nine] Setting download directory for module ../nine to ../nine/.terragrunt-cache
10:16:02.347 DEBUG  Did not find any locals block: skipping evaluation.
10:16:02.347 DEBUG  Detected single bare include block - exposing as top level
10:16:02.347 DEBUG  Found locals block: evaluating the expressions.
10:16:02.347 DEBUG  Found locals block: evaluating the expressions.
10:16:02.347 DEBUG  [Partial] Included config ../../terragrunt.hcl has strategy shallow merge: merging config in (shallow).
10:16:02.347 DEBUG  Setting download directory for module . to ./.terragrunt-cache
10:16:02.348 DEBUG  [../seven] Did not find any locals block: skipping evaluation.
10:16:02.348 DEBUG  [../seven] Detected single bare include block - exposing as top level
10:16:02.348 DEBUG  [../seven] Found locals block: evaluating the expressions.
10:16:02.349 DEBUG  [../seven] Found locals block: evaluating the expressions.
10:16:02.349 DEBUG  [../seven] [Partial] Included config ../../terragrunt.hcl has strategy shallow merge: merging config in (shallow).
10:16:02.349 DEBUG  [../seven] Setting download directory for module ../seven to ../seven/.terragrunt-cache
10:16:02.350 DEBUG  [../six] Did not find any locals block: skipping evaluation.
10:16:02.350 DEBUG  [../six] Detected single bare include block - exposing as top level
10:16:02.350 DEBUG  [../six] Found locals block: evaluating the expressions.
10:16:02.351 DEBUG  [../six] Found locals block: evaluating the expressions.
10:16:02.352 DEBUG  [../six] [Partial] Included config ../../terragrunt.hcl has strategy shallow merge: merging config in (shallow).
10:16:02.352 DEBUG  [../six] Setting download directory for module ../six to ../six/.terragrunt-cache
10:16:02.353 DEBUG  [../ten] Did not find any locals block: skipping evaluation.
10:16:02.353 DEBUG  [../ten] Detected single bare include block - exposing as top level
10:16:02.353 DEBUG  [../ten] Found locals block: evaluating the expressions.
10:16:02.353 DEBUG  [../ten] Found locals block: evaluating the expressions.
10:16:02.353 DEBUG  [../ten] [Partial] Included config ../../terragrunt.hcl has strategy shallow merge: merging config in (shallow).
10:16:02.353 DEBUG  [../ten] Setting download directory for module ../ten to ../ten/.terragrunt-cache
10:16:02.354 DEBUG  [../tree] Did not find any locals block: skipping evaluation.
10:16:02.355 DEBUG  [../tree] Detected single bare include block - exposing as top level
10:16:02.355 DEBUG  [../tree] Found locals block: evaluating the expressions.
10:16:02.356 DEBUG  [../tree] Found locals block: evaluating the expressions.
10:16:02.356 DEBUG  [../tree] [Partial] Included config ../../terragrunt.hcl has strategy shallow merge: merging config in (shallow).
10:16:02.356 DEBUG  [../tree] Setting download directory for module ../tree to ../tree/.terragrunt-cache
10:16:02.356 DEBUG  [../two] Did not find any locals block: skipping evaluation.
10:16:02.357 DEBUG  [../two] Detected single bare include block - exposing as top level
10:16:02.357 DEBUG  [../two] Found locals block: evaluating the expressions.
10:16:02.358 DEBUG  [../two] Found locals block: evaluating the expressions.
10:16:02.358 DEBUG  [../two] [Partial] Included config ../../terragrunt.hcl has strategy shallow merge: merging config in (shallow).
10:16:02.358 DEBUG  [../two] Setting download directory for module ../two to ../two/.terragrunt-cache
10:16:02.358 DEBUG  Running command: tofu init
10:16:02.358 DEBUG  Engine is not enabled, running command directly in ../../../../../.cache/terragrunt/downloads/IgLK4KSTuNK_msXDl0gRsqsH7Zc/LQsymLGlJTaFUPqoAlb9T_RGCWM
10:16:02.376 DEBUG  tofu: Initializing the backend...
10:16:02.377 DEBUG  tofu: Initializing provider plugins...
10:16:02.377 DEBUG  tofu: OpenTofu has been successfully initialized!
10:16:02.377 DEBUG  tofu: 
10:16:02.377 DEBUG  tofu: You may now begin working with OpenTofu. Try running "tofu plan" to see
10:16:02.377 DEBUG  tofu: any changes that are required for your infrastructure. All OpenTofu commands
10:16:02.377 DEBUG  tofu: should now work.
10:16:02.377 DEBUG  tofu: If you ever set or change modules or backend configuration for OpenTofu,
10:16:02.377 DEBUG  tofu: rerun this command to reinitialize your working directory. If you forget, other
10:16:02.377 DEBUG  tofu: commands will detect it and remind you to do so if necessary.
10:16:02.378 DEBUG  Copying lock file from ../../../../../.cache/terragrunt/downloads/IgLK4KSTuNK_msXDl0gRsqsH7Zc/LQsymLGlJTaFUPqoAlb9T_RGCWM/.terraform.lock.hcl to .
10:16:02.379 DEBUG  Running command: tofu destroy
10:16:02.379 DEBUG  Engine is not enabled, running command directly in ../../../../../.cache/terragrunt/downloads/IgLK4KSTuNK_msXDl0gRsqsH7Zc/LQsymLGlJTaFUPqoAlb9T_RGCWM
10:16:02.397 DEBUG  tofu: No changes. No objects need to be destroyed.
10:16:02.397 DEBUG  tofu: Either you have not created any objects yet or the existing objects were
10:16:02.397 DEBUG  tofu: already deleted outside of OpenTofu.
10:16:02.400 DEBUG  tofu: 
10:16:02.400 DEBUG  tofu: Destroy complete! Resources: 0 destroyed.
10:16:02.400 DEBUG  tofu: 

Expected behavior

terragrunt would evaluate just the current folder (one) and not evaluate all the folders in the directory above it.

Nice to haves

• Terminal output
• Screenshots

Versions

• Terragrunt version: 0.69.0
• OpenTofu version: 1.8.6
• Environment details: WSL2 Ubuntu 24.04

Additional context

Add any other context about the problem here.

[yhakbar]

Check this out, @daniel-anova :
https://terragrunt.gruntwork.io/docs/reference/cli-options/#terragrunt-no-destroy-dependencies-check

There's a special flag to prevent this behavior. Please consider contributing a pull request to update the docs if you feel like it could be explained better, and it solves your use-case.