Swacker: Code to Container, No Docker Required

• Jul 20, 2015

The dream of most development teams is to have a setup where code is committed, built, and tested on a continuous basis. This practice is called continuous integration (CI). Add deployment to that list of actions, and you get the practice of continuous deployment, which looks a bit like #commitcode and #lookatthatitworks. In practice it’s more like #thisisahugepainintheass to implement.

With the advent of containerized applications, and newer offerings by companies like Giant Swarm and Wercker, making everyone’s CI dream a reality is now possible without having to shoehorn your app into an highly opinionated PaaS framework.

I’ve put together a sample application called Swacker, which illustrates how an app can be deployed without installing anything on your computer, including Docker. All you need is a browser and the will to click and type.

Prerequisites

At a minimum, you will need the following to deploy a static, containerized site to the Interwebs:

A Github account.
A Giant Swarm account.
A Wercker account.

Let’s Do It

If you are having trouble sleeping, feel free to watch my artisan video guide.

Start by forking the Swacker repository on Github:

Next, create an application and add the repository you just forked to your Wercker account:

When you are done adding the new application, use the gear icon at the top right on the application overview page to edit and add a custom deploy step to the application:

Make sure you check auto deploy and enter master for the branch. You’ll also need to add the following variables to the deploy pipeline:

user - your Giant Swarm username.
pass - your Giant Swarm password.
env - desired Giant Swarm environment: <username>/prod

Click save and then head back to the Github repository.

Push==Deploy

Pushing to the forked Github repository will trigger a hook on Wercker to push or update your application to Giant Swarm. To trigger a deployment, edit the index.html file on Github: