Release Strategy Documentation¶

This document provides a comprehensive guide to the release strategy implemented in this repository, including how to set up and use ArgoCD and k3d for local development and testing.

Table of Contents¶

Overview
Branch Strategy
PR Automation
Environment Setup
ArgoCD Integration
Local Development with k3d
Troubleshooting

Overview¶

Our release strategy follows a streamlined approach with feature/fix branches that merge directly into the main branch. The process is automated using GitHub Actions workflows that handle PR creation, testing, and deployment preparation.

Key Components¶

PR Automation: Automatically creates PRs when pushing to feature/fix branches
Helm and ArgoCD Testing: Validates Helm charts and ArgoCD configurations
ArgoCD Integration: Manages deployments to different environments
Local Development: Uses k3d for local Kubernetes development and testing

Branch Strategy¶

We follow a simple branch strategy:

Main Branch (main): The primary branch that represents the production-ready code
Feature Branches (feat/*): Used for developing new features
Fix Branches (fix/*): Used for bug fixes

Workflow¶

Create a feature or fix branch from main
Develop and test your changes locally
Push your branch to GitHub, which automatically creates a PR
The PR triggers tests and validation workflows
After review and approval, merge the PR to main
Changes to main trigger deployment to staging
After validation in staging, promote to production

PR Automation¶

When you push a feature or fix branch to GitHub, our PR automation workflow automatically creates a PR if one doesn't exist.

How to Use¶

Create a feature or fix branch:

git checkout -b feat/your-feature-name
# or
git checkout -b fix/your-fix-name

Make your changes and commit them:

git add .
git commit -m "Your commit message"

Push your branch to GitHub:

git push -u origin feat/your-feature-name

The PR automation workflow will create a PR automatically

Environment Setup¶

We use two environments for our deployment pipeline:

Staging: Pre-production environment for validation
Production: Live environment

Configuration Files¶

Staging: config/helm/staging.yaml and config/argocd/staging.yaml
Production: config/helm/production.yaml and config/argocd/production.yaml

ArgoCD Integration¶

ArgoCD is used for GitOps-based deployments to our Kubernetes clusters.

Setting Up ArgoCD¶

Prerequisites¶

kubectl
argocd CLI
GitHub CLI (gh)

Installation¶

Set up a Kubernetes cluster (see Local Development with k3d for local setup)
Install ArgoCD:
```
./scripts/setup-local-k3d-argocd.sh
```
Set up ArgoCD API key and GitHub secrets:
```
./scripts/setup-argocd-github.sh
```

Manual Deployment¶

To manually deploy using ArgoCD:

Login to ArgoCD:

argocd login <argocd-server> --username admin --password <password>

Create an application:

argocd app create <app-name> \
  --repo https://github.com/datascientest-fastapi-project-group-25/fastAPI-project-release.git \
  --path charts/fastapi \
  --dest-server https://kubernetes.default.svc \
  --dest-namespace <namespace> \
  --values ../../config/helm/<environment>.yaml

Sync the application:
```
argocd app sync <app-name>
```

Local Development with k3d¶

k3d is a lightweight Kubernetes distribution that runs in Docker, perfect for local development and testing.

Setting Up k3d¶

Install k3d:
```
brew install k3d
```
Create a k3d cluster with ArgoCD:
```
./scripts/setup-local-k3d-argocd.sh
```
Verify the cluster is running:
```
k3d cluster list
kubectl get nodes
```

Testing Locally¶

Port-forward ArgoCD server:

kubectl port-forward svc/argocd-server -n argocd 8080:443

Access ArgoCD UI at https://localhost:8080
Username: admin
Password: (retrieved during setup)

Deploy your application:

argocd app create fastapi-test \
  --repo https://github.com/datascientest-fastapi-project-group-25/fastAPI-project-release.git \
  --path charts/fastapi \
  --dest-server https://kubernetes.default.svc \
  --dest-namespace fastapi-test \
  --values ../../config/helm/playground.yaml

Troubleshooting¶

Common Issues¶

If you're having trouble logging in to ArgoCD:

# Reset admin password
kubectl -n argocd patch secret argocd-secret \
  -p '{"stringData": {
    "admin.password": "$2a$10$mivhwttXM0U5eBrZGtAG8.VSRL1l9cZNAmaSaqotIzXRBRwID1NT.",
    "admin.passwordMtime": "'$(date +%FT%T%Z)'"
  }}'

This resets the password to "admin".

k3d Cluster Creation Issues¶

If you're having trouble creating a k3d cluster:

# Check if there are any existing clusters
k3d cluster list

# Delete existing cluster if needed
k3d cluster delete <cluster-name>

# Try creating with a different port
k3d cluster create argocd-cluster --servers 1 --agents 1 --port 8082:80@loadbalancer

GitHub Actions Workflow Failures¶

If GitHub Actions workflows are failing:

Check the workflow logs for specific errors
Verify that the required secrets are set up correctly
Make sure your Helm charts are valid
Ensure that the ArgoCD configuration is correct

For more help, please open an issue on the repository.