Deployment: Add CI/CD Pipeline

[Prajna1999]

Currently the frontend does not have automated CI/CD associated with the repo. It requires manual git pull to ec2 at every re-deploy. To automate this setup runners for CI and CD

[Ayush8923]

@AkhileshNegi @Prajna1999, I just wanted to confirm the current deployment process for the frontend.

As per my understanding, the current flow might be something like:

1. SSH into the EC2 instance (via AWS Console or terminal)
2. Navigate to the project directory
3. Run git pull to fetch the latest changes
4. Run npm run build to generate the new build
5. Reload the application using pm2 reload <app-name> (if PM2 is being used)

Could you please confirm if this is the correct process, or let me know if there are any differences?

Additionally, for setting up the CI/CD pipeline, I believe we’ll need to configure some GitHub Secrets such as:
• EC2_HOST
• EC2_USER
• EC2_SSH_KEY
• PROJECT_PATH

Please let me know if anything else is required.

Also, could you confirm the branch strategy:
• Is the main branch used for production deployments?
• And what branch is used for staging (is it also main or a separate branch)?

Once I have this clarity, I’ll proceed with setting up the CD pipeline accordingly.

[Prajna1999]

That's how it works. Just a change in sequencing.

I first do pm2 stop kaapi-frontend ---> npm run build --> pm2 restart kaapi-frontend. I am assuming pm2 reload does the same thing. Sometimes building before stopping the process corrupts the build file. Hence I do explicit stop --> build -->restart.

Since this is a vanilla EC2, basic github secrets should work. I will connect you with Vijay for providing access to AWS console. @Ayush8923

[Ayush8923]

@Prajna1999 Also, could you confirm the branch strategy:
• Is the main branch used for production deployments?
• And what branch is used for staging (is it also main or a separate branch)?

[Prajna1999]

its the same branch for both envs. But if you have better strategy than welcome to suggest enhancements.

[vprashrex]

@Prajna1999 @Ayush8923 .. can use main branch for staging and use release for production. same way the Kaapi-backend is working or else use dev branch for staging and main branch for prod

[Ayush8923]

@vprashrex Yes, I was thinking along the same lines. We can use the main branch for staging and a release branch for production. This way, once everything is stable and working fine on the main branch, we can merge it into the release branch. It will also make rollbacks easier in case any issues arise after releasing new changes.