Prerequisites

Before deploying applications to the DineTogether infrastructure, ensure you have the following:

Required Accounts

GitHub Account

[ ] Member of the dine-together organization
[ ] Access to create/manage repositories

Development Tools

[ ] Git - Version control
```
git --version
```
[ ] Docker - For building container images
```
docker --version
```

[ ] kubectl - Kubernetes CLI (for deployment and debugging)

kubectl version --client
# Install: https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/tools/

[ ] Flux CLI (optional but recommended)

flux --version
# Install: curl -s https://fluxcd.io/install.sh | sudo bash

[ ] GitHub CLI (optional but recommended)

gh --version
# Install: https://cli.github.com/

Repository Requirements

1. Repository Location

Your repository must be in the dine-together organization: - ✅ github.com/dine-together/your-app - ❌ github.com/personal/your-app

2. Required Files

your-app/
├── Dockerfile              # Container build instructions
└── .github/
    └── workflows/
        └── build.yml       # CI/CD workflow for building images

3. GitHub Actions Setup

Your app repository needs a workflow to build and push Docker images to GHCR:

# .github/workflows/build.yml
name: Build and Push Image

on:
  push:
    branches: [main]

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

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    permissions:
      contents: read
      packages: write
    # ... (see first-deployment.md for full example)

Infrastructure Repository Access

1. Clone the Infrastructure Repository

git clone https://github.com/dine-together/k8s-infrastructure.git
cd k8s-infrastructure

2. Understand the Structure

k8s-infrastructure/
├── clusters/
│   ├── staging/            # Staging environment configs
│   └── production/         # Production environment configs
├── apps/                   # Application manifests
├── monitoring/             # Prometheus, Grafana, Loki
└── scripts/                # Helper scripts

Local Development Setup

1. Install Docker Desktop

macOSWindowsLinux

brew install --cask docker

Or download from Docker Desktop for Mac

Download from Docker Desktop for Windows

curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com | sh
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER

2. Install kubectl

macOSLinuxWindows

brew install kubectl

curl -LO "https://dl.k8s.io/release/$(curl -L -s https://dl.k8s.io/release/stable.txt)/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl"
chmod +x kubectl
sudo mv kubectl /usr/local/bin/

Download from kubectl for Windows

3. Test Your Setup

# Test Docker
docker run hello-world

# Test kubectl (requires kubeconfig)
kubectl version --client

# Test GHCR access
echo $GITHUB_TOKEN | docker login ghcr.io -u YOUR_GITHUB_USERNAME --password-stdin

Application Requirements

Supported Languages/Frameworks

The infrastructure supports any application that can run in a container:

✅ Frontend: React, Next.js, Vue, Angular
✅ Backend: Node.js, Python/Django, Ruby/Rails, Go
✅ Databases: PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB, Redis
✅ Other: Any Dockerized application

Port Configuration

Your application should: - Bind to 0.0.0.0 (not localhost or 127.0.0.1) - Expose ports in Dockerfile - Use standard ports (3000 for Node.js, 8000 for Django, etc.)

Environment Variables

Use environment variables for configuration
Never hardcode secrets in code
Use Kubernetes Secrets for sensitive data

Kubernetes Cluster Access

For Deployment

You'll need: - Access to the k8s-infrastructure repository - Understanding of Helm charts or Kustomize - FluxCD will handle the actual deployment

For Debugging

If you need direct cluster access:

# Get kubeconfig from your administrator
# Then test connection
kubectl get nodes
kubectl get namespaces

Understanding GitOps

What is GitOps?

GitOps means: - Git repository is the source of truth - Changes are made via pull requests - FluxCD automatically syncs changes to the cluster - No manual kubectl apply commands

Key Concepts

HelmRelease: Defines how to deploy your Helm chart
Kustomization: Defines how to apply raw Kubernetes manifests
ImageRepository: Watches for new container images
ImagePolicy: Defines which image tags to use

Checklist

Before proceeding to deployment:

[ ] Docker installed and running
[ ] kubectl installed
[ ] Repository in dine-together organization
[ ] Can build Docker image locally
[ ] Understand GitOps principles
[ ] Access to k8s-infrastructure repository

Troubleshooting

Docker Not Running

# macOS/Windows: Start Docker Desktop app

# Linux: Start Docker service
sudo systemctl start docker

Permission Denied

# Add user to docker group (Linux)
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
newgrp docker

Can't Access Repository

Ensure you're a member of the dine-together organization. Contact an admin if needed.

GHCR Authentication Issues

# Create a personal access token with read:packages and write:packages permissions
# Then login
echo YOUR_GITHUB_TOKEN | docker login ghcr.io -u YOUR_GITHUB_USERNAME --password-stdin

Next Steps

Once prerequisites are met: 1. Continue to First Deployment 2. Learn about GitOps with FluxCD 3. Explore Helm Charts