How to Deploy Preview Environments on Kubernetes with GitHub Actions
Testing deployed code before it's merged in total isolation from your real traffic.
Introduction
Preview environments
Preview environments are a game-changer in modern software development, offering a multitude of benefits that significantly enhance the development workflow.
They provide a safe and isolated space where developers can test and debug code changes before they are merged into the main branch.
It enables faster feedback loops and more efficient collaboration among team members where designers, product managers and QA testers can provide valuable feedback on new features.
Moreover, preview environments are ephemeral, meaning they are created and destroyed as needed, which helps in reducing costs and resource wastage.
They integrate seamlessly with CI/CD pipelines, enabling continuous integration and deployment, and support performance testing to ensure the application can handle expected loads.
Overall, preview environments streamline the development process, enhance productivity, and ultimately lead to faster, more reliable software releases.
Article overview
In this article, we will cover how to setup Preview Environments for Backend services and APIs.
Kubernetes, Docker and Github Actions are central pieces of this article, though any CI/CD should work as long as you can run some command lines in a shell.
This setup is completely language agnostic since it’s all about Kubernetes configuration.
