GGS-combined README

This repository contains the source code for the Girlguiding Scotland Treasure Hunting web application.

Deployment

During development when you are working on features of the application locally, run the following command from the ggs-combined root directory: ./cdk/bin/install.sh. You may need to chmod +x the script before you are able to run it. The script assumes that you have configured your AWS credentials inside your ~/.aws/credentials file.

The ./cdk/bin/install.sh script takes two arguments. The first is the environment you wish to deploy. The second is the AWS profile you wish to use. The second argument is optional. If you don't provide a profile, the script assumes you mean to deploy using your default profile in ~/.aws/credentials file.

For instance, the following will deploy the dev environment to the default AWS profile: ./cdk/bin/install.sh dev. The following command will deploy the dev environment to the sta AWS profile: ./cdk/bin/install.sh dev sta.

The installation script will install the GGS application to your AWS account.

The project uses GitHub Actions. When changes are pushed to Github, Github actions are executed from the .github/workflows directory. What precisely is done depends upon which branch the changes are pushed to.

Changes to the develop branch are assumed to be intended for the stage deployment. They are deployed automatically to the stage environment on AWS. The stage environment is intended for testing prior to going into production.

Changes to the main branch are assumed to be intended for the production deployment. They are deployed automatically to the production environment on AWS. This will become the live web application used by end users.

Changes to all other branches are not deployed to AWS. These changes are built and then the unit tests are executed to ensure that the software is working as expected.

Both the production and stage deployments are made to AWS. The Scottish Tech Army has an AWS account, and both environments are deployed automatically to the STA AWS account. The GGS-combined repository has two Github environments, one for stage and another for production. The github environments contain secrets relating to the AWS credentials needed to deploy to AWS.

Under no circumstances must the AWS secrets be added plain text to the source code in this repository.

Deployment Flow

Changes to the software should follow the following steps:

1. Develop your feature on a feature branch called something like feat/some-feature or perhaps use the name of the issue in jira;
2. When you are happy that the feature is ready for testing in a production like environment, merge your branch into the develop branch. The changes will now be deployed to AWS stage for testing;
3. When you are happy that the new feature works in stage, merge the changes into the main branch. This will be deployed into the production environment and may be used by end users.