deployment-automation

name	deployment-automation
description	Automate application deployment to cloud platforms and servers. Use when setting up CI/CD pipelines, deploying to Docker/Kubernetes, or configuring cloud infrastructure. Handles GitHub Actions, Docker, Kubernetes, AWS, Vercel, and deployment best practices.
metadata	{"tags":"deployment, CI/CD, Docker, Kubernetes, AWS, GitHub-Actions, automation","platforms":"Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini"}

Deployment Automation

When to use this skill

• New Projects: Set up automated deployment from scratch
• Manual Deployment Improvement: Automate repetitive manual tasks
• Multi-Environment: Separate dev, staging, and production environments
• Scaling: Introduce Kubernetes to handle traffic growth

Instructions

Step 1: Docker Containerization

Package the application as a Docker image.

Dockerfile (Node.js app):

# Multi-stage build for smaller image size
FROM node:18-alpine AS builder

WORKDIR /app

# Copy package files and install dependencies
COPY package*.json ./
RUN npm ci --only=production

# Copy source code
COPY . .

# Build application (if needed)
RUN npm run build

# Production stage
FROM node:18-alpine

WORKDIR /app

# Copy only necessary files from builder
COPY --from=builder /app/node_modules ./node_modules
COPY --from=builder /app/dist ./dist
COPY --from=builder /app/package.json ./

# Create non-root user for security
RUN addgroup -g 1001 -S nodejs && \
    adduser -S nodejs -u 1001
USER nodejs

# Expose port
EXPOSE 3000

# Health check
HEALTHCHECK --interval=30s --timeout=3s --start-period=5s --retries=3 \
  CMD node healthcheck.js

# Start application
CMD ["node", "dist/index.js"]

.dockerignore:

node_modules
npm-debug.log
.git
.env
.env.local
dist
build
coverage
.DS_Store

Build and Run:

# Build image
docker build -t myapp:latest .

# Run container
docker run -d -p 3000:3000 --name myapp-container myapp:latest

# Check logs
docker logs myapp-container

# Stop and remove
docker stop myapp-container
docker rm myapp-container

Step 2: GitHub Actions CI/CD

Automatically runs tests and deploys on code push.

.github/workflows/deploy.yml:

name: CI/CD Pipeline

on:
  push:
    branches: [main, develop]
  pull_request:
    branches: [main]

env:
  NODE_VERSION: '18'
  REGISTRY: ghcr.io
  IMAGE_NAME: ${{ github.repository }}

jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Setup Node.js
        uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: ${{ env.NODE_VERSION }}
          cache: 'npm'

      - name: Install dependencies
        run: npm ci

      - name: Run linter
        run: npm run lint

      -   
            

         
         
        
           

  
     
     
           

    
        

           
         

            
         
        
             
             
             

         
         
         
        
               
           
            
         
        
           
           
             
             
           
           

  
     
     
     

    
          
         
        
             
             
             
           

Step 3: Kubernetes Deployment

Implement scalable container orchestration.

k8s/deployment.yaml:

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: myapp
  namespace: production
  labels:
    app: myapp
spec:
  replicas: 3
  strategy:
    type: RollingUpdate
    rollingUpdate:
      maxSurge: 1
      maxUnavailable: 0
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: myapp
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: myapp
    spec:
      containers:
      - name: myapp
        image: ghcr.io/username/myapp:latest
        imagePullPolicy: Always
        ports:
        - containerPort: 3000
        env:
        - name: NODE_ENV
          value: "production"
        - name: DATABASE_URL
          valueFrom:
            
               
               
        
          
             
             
          
             
             
        
          
             
             
           
           
        
          
             
             
           
           


 
 

   
   

  
     
  
    
     
     
   


 
 

   
   

  
     
     
     
   
   
  
    
    
       
      
         
         
    
    
       
      
         
         

Deployment Script (deploy.sh):

#!/bin/bash
set -e

# Variables
NAMESPACE="production"
IMAGE_TAG="${1:-latest}"

echo "Deploying myapp:${IMAGE_TAG} to ${NAMESPACE}..."

# Apply Kubernetes manifests
kubectl apply -f k8s/namespace.yaml
kubectl apply -f k8s/secrets.yaml
kubectl apply -f k8s/deployment.yaml
kubectl apply -f k8s/service.yaml

# Update image
kubectl set image deployment/myapp myapp=ghcr.io/username/myapp:${IMAGE_TAG} -n ${NAMESPACE}

# Wait for rollout
kubectl rollout status deployment/myapp -n ${NAMESPACE} --timeout=5m

# Verify
kubectl get pods -n ${NAMESPACE} -l app=myapp

echo "Deployment completed successfully!"

Step 4: Vercel/Netlify (Frontend)

Simply deploy static sites and Next.js apps.

vercel.json:

{
  "version": 2,
  "builds": [
    {
      "src": "package.json",
      "use": "@vercel/next"
    }
  ],
  "env": {
    "DATABASE_URL": "@database-url",
    "API_KEY": "@api-key"
  },
  "regions": ["sin1", "icn1"],
  "headers": [
    {
      "source": "/(.*)",
      "headers": [
        {
          "key": "X-Frame-Options",
          "value": "DENY"
        
        
           
           
        
      
    
  
   
    
       
       
       
    
  

CLI Deployment:

# Install Vercel CLI
npm i -g vercel

# Login
vercel login

# Deploy to preview
vercel

# Deploy to production
vercel --prod

# Set environment variable
vercel env add DATABASE_URL

Step 5: Zero-Downtime Deployment Strategy

Deploy new versions without service interruption.

Blue-Green Deployment (docker-compose):

version: '3.8'

services:
  nginx:
    image: nginx:alpine
    ports:
      - "80:80"
    volumes:
      - ./nginx.conf:/etc/nginx/nginx.conf:ro
    depends_on:
      - app-blue
      - app-green

  app-blue:
    image: myapp:blue
    environment:
      - NODE_ENV=production
      - COLOR=blue

  app-green:
    image: myapp:green
    environment:
      - NODE_ENV=production
      - COLOR=green

switch.sh (Blue/Green Switch):

#!/bin/bash

CURRENT_COLOR=$(cat current_color.txt)
NEW_COLOR=$([[ "$CURRENT_COLOR" == "blue" ]] && echo "green" || echo "blue")

# Deploy new version to inactive environment
docker-compose up -d app-${NEW_COLOR}

# Wait for health check
sleep 10

# Health check
if curl -f http://localhost:8080/health; then
  # Update nginx to point to new environment
  sed -i "s/${CURRENT_COLOR}/${NEW_COLOR}/g" nginx.conf
  docker-compose exec nginx nginx -s reload

  # Update current color
  echo ${NEW_COLOR} > current_color.txt

  # Stop old environment after 5 minutes (rollback window)
  sleep 300
  docker-compose stop app-${CURRENT_COLOR}

  echo "Deployment successful! Switched to ${NEW_COLOR}"
else
  echo "Health check failed! Keeping ${CURRENT_COLOR}"
  docker-compose stop app-${NEW_COLOR}
  exit 1
fi

Output format

Deployment Checklist

## Deployment Checklist

### Pre-Deployment
- [ ] All tests passing (unit, integration, E2E)
- [ ] Code review approved
- [ ] Environment variables configured
- [ ] Database migrations ready
- [ ] Rollback plan documented

### Deployment
- [ ] Docker image built and tagged
- [ ] Image pushed to container registry
- [ ] Kubernetes manifests applied
- [ ] Rolling update started
- [ ] Pods healthy and ready

### Post-Deployment
- [ ] Health check endpoint responding
- [ ] Metrics/logs monitoring active
- [ ] Performance baseline established
- [ ] Old pods terminated (after grace period)
- [ ] Deployment documented in changelog

Constraints

Required Rules (MUST)

1. Health Checks: Health check endpoint for all services

   app.get('/health', (req, res) => {
     res.status(200).json({ status: 'ok' });
   });
   

2. Graceful Shutdown: Handle SIGTERM signal

   process.on('SIGTERM', async () => {
     console.log('SIGTERM received, shutting down gracefully');
     await server.close();
     await db.close();
     process.exit(0);
   });
   

3. Environment Variable Separation: No hardcoding; use .env files

Prohibited Rules (MUST NOT)

1. No Committing Secrets: Never commit API keys or passwords to Git
2. No Debug Mode in Production: NODE_ENV=production is required
3. Avoid latest tag only: Use version tags (v1.0.0, sha-abc123)

Best practices

1. Multi-stage Docker builds: Minimize image size
2. Immutable infrastructure: Redeploy instead of modifying servers
3. Blue-Green deployment: Zero-downtime deployment and easy rollback
4. Monitoring required: Prometheus, Grafana, Datadog

References

• Docker Docs
• Kubernetes Docs
• GitHub Actions
• Vercel
• 12 Factor App

Metadata

Version

• Current Version: 1.0.0
• Last Updated: 2025-01-01
• Compatible Platforms: Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini

Related Skills

• monitoring: Post-deployment monitoring
• security: Deployment security

Tags

#deployment #CI/CD #Docker #Kubernetes #automation #infrastructure

Examples

Example 1: Basic usage

Example 2: Advanced usage