platform-engineering

## What I do - Build internal developer platforms - Create self-service infrastructure - Implement golden paths for developers - Design platform APIs and interfaces - Build internal tooling and automation - Measure platform effectiveness ## When to use me - When improving developer experience - When standardizing deployments - When building self-service capabilities - When reducing cognitive load on developers - When implementing platform engineering - When creating internal developer portals ## Key Concepts ### Internal Developer Platform ``` ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Internal Developer Portal │ │ (Backstage, Port, Cortex) │ └──────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────────┘ │ ┌──────────────────┼──────────────────┐ │ │ │ ┌───▼────┐ ┌────▼────┐ ┌────▼────┐ │ CI/CD │ │Runtime │ │ Data │ │ Platform│ │ Platform│ │ Platform│ └────┬───┘ └────┬────┘ └────┬────┘ │ │ │ │ ┌───────────┼───────────┐ │ └──────► Infrastructure ◄──────┘ ``` ### Backstage Catalog ```yaml # catalog-info.yaml apiVersion: backstage.io/v1alpha1 kind: Component metadata: name: my-service description: User management service tags: - java - spring-boot - postgres links: - url: https://github.com/company/my-service title: GitHub - url: https://my-service.dev.company.com title: Dashboard spec: type: service lifecycle: production owner: team-backend providesApis: - user-api --- apiVersion: backstage.io/v1alpha1 kind: API metadata: name: user-api description: User management API spec: type: openapi lifecycle: production owner: team-backend definition: $ref: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/company/apis/main/user-api.yaml --- apiVersion: backstage.io/v1alpha1 kind: Resource metadata: name: user-db description: Production database spec: type: database owner: team-backend system: user-management ``` ### Golden Path Template ```yaml # Template for new services apiVersion: scaffolder.backstage.io/v1beta3 kind: Template metadata: name: service-template title: New Microservice description: Create a new microservice spec: owner: platform-team type: service parameters: - title: Service Details required: - service_name - description properties: service_name: title: Service Name type: string description: title: Description type: string owner: title: Owner Team type: string default: team-backend steps: - id: fetch-template name: Fetch Template action: fetch:template input: url: ./templates/java-service values: service_name: ${{ parameters.service_name }} description: ${{ parameters.description }} owner: ${{ parameters.owner }} - id: publish name: Publish to Git action: publish:github input: repoUrl: github.com?owner=${{ parameters.owner }}&repo=${{ parameters.service_name }} - id: register name: Register in Catalog action: catalog:register input: repoContentsUrl: ${{ steps.publish.output.repoContentsUrl }} catalogInfoPath: catalog-info.yaml ``` ### Platform API Design ```typescript // Platform SDK export interface PlatformService { // Deployment deploy(service: ServiceConfig): Promise<Deployment>; rollback(serviceName: string, version: string): Promise<void>; getStatus(serviceName: string): Promise<ServiceStatus>; // Infrastructure provisionDatabase(config: DatabaseConfig): Promise<Database>; provisionCache(config: CacheConfig): Promise<Cache>; // Monitoring getMetrics(serviceName: string, timeRange: TimeRange): Promise<Metrics>; getLogs(serviceName: string, query: LogQuery): Promise<Logs>; } // Usage const platform = new PlatformClient({ token: process.env.PLATFORM_TOKEN }); await platform.deploy({ name: 'user-service', image: 'user-service:latest', replicas: 3, env: { DATABASE_URL: 'postgres://...' } }); ``` ### Self-Service Workflows 1. **Service Creation**: Developer creates service from template 2. **Infrastructure Provisioning**: Platform provisions DB, cache, etc. 3. **CI/CD Setup**: Pipeline automatically configured 4. **Monitoring**: Dashboards and alerts auto-created 5. **Documentation**: Catalog entry created 6. **Access Control**: Team permissions configured ### Platform Metrics | Metric | Description | Target | |--------|-------------|--------| | Deployment Frequency | How often code is deployed | Daily+ | | Lead Time | Time from commit to production | < 1 day | | MTTR | Mean time to recovery | < 1 hour | | Self-Service Rate | % of actions done by developers | > 80% | | Platform Uptime | Platform availability | 99.9% | | Developer Satisfaction | NPS score | > 50 | ### Golden Paths - **Build**: Standardized project templates - **Deploy**: Single command deployment - **Configure**: Declarative configuration - **Monitor**: Built-in observability - **Secure**: Integrated security scanning - **Test**: Standardized test patterns