---
title: "Choose the UI, the API, or Terraform | Grafana Labs"
description: "Choose the UI, the API, or Terraform to enable auto-apply, and find the values that select Coverage-first or Cost-first in the API and Terraform."
---

> For a curated documentation index, see [llms.txt](/llms.txt). For the complete documentation index, see [llms-full.txt](/llms-full.txt).

# Choose the UI, the API, or Terraform

You can enable auto-apply in the UI, with the API, or with Terraform. The steps for each are on [Enable auto-apply](/docs/grafana-cloud/observe-and-act/adaptive-telemetry/adaptive-metrics/additional-configuration/auto-apply/).

| Method    | When you use it                                                                                  | How you set the mode                                                                                                                                                                                 |
|-----------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| UI        | It’s your first setup, or you’re a smaller organization. The UI is the recommended way for both. | Select **Coverage-first** or **Cost-first** in **Auto-apply mode**.                                                                                                                                  |
| API       | You automate setup, keep it in version control, or manage many teams.                            | Set `auto_apply.gate.policy` to `unbounded` for **Coverage-first** or `no-increase` for **Cost-first**. If you leave it out, auto-apply uses **Coverage-first**.                                     |
| Terraform | You already manage your infrastructure as code.                                                  | Use `grafana-adaptive-metrics_recommendations_config` for the Default segment and `grafana-adaptive-metrics_segment` for named segments. Set `auto_apply.gate.policy` to the same values as the API. |