In some cases this is needed to keep the UX clean and to make sure any remote exit codes are passed through to the local process.
The most obvious example for this is when using the "remote" backend. This backend runs Terraform remotely and stream the output back to the local terminal.
When an error occurs during the remote execution, all the needed error information will already be in the streamed output. So if we then return an error ourselves, users will get the same errors twice.
By allowing the backend to specify the correct exit code, the UX remains the same while preserving the correct exit codes.
In TFE you can configure a workspace to use a custom working directory. When determining which directory that needs to be uploaded to TFE, this working directory should be taken into account to make sure we are uploading the correct root directory for the workspace.
Sander van Harmelen