This blog introduces how to optimize workflow management within the Amazon ecosystem using codecatalyst-blueprints. By employing a blueprint.ts file, developers can succinctly express workflows as code, promoting readability and collaboration without CodeCatalyst Enterprise tier
Blueprints introduction
Blueprints are code generators used to create and maintain projects in Amazon CodeCatalyst. You can build your own blueprint (Custom Blueprints) today by upgrading to the CodeCatalyst Enterprise tier. An integral aspect of Blueprints involves workflow generation. Disregarding the CodeCatalyst Enterprise tier, we can utilize this feature to create CodeCatalyst workflows as code, utilizing the preferred programming language, such as Typescript.
Init Blueprint project using Projen
We cannot use Projen to init a blueprint project as AWS CDK or CDK8S, but we can do a trick by init TypeScript project and then update .projenrc.ts as ProjenBlueprint
While we cannot directly use Projen to initialize a blueprint project such as AWS CDK or CDK8S, we can employ a workaround. Initialize a TypeScript project first, and then update the `.projenrc.ts` file using ProjenBlueprint
To initialize a TypeScript project using Projen, you can use the following command
Override the .projenrc.ts with the following code
Then run projen to update the package.json, .projen, and other files managed by Projen
Write blueprint.ts to build worksflow
If you've utilized CodeCatalyst custom blueprints, you are likely familiar with blueprint.ts, which contains code for generating UI options, environment settings, source repository configurations, and workflows. When creating a custom blueprint, these elements are automatically generated. However, if your goal is to leverage the CI/CD capabilities of the CodeCatalyst workspace without requiring all components, you specifically need the workflow generation part.
In short, the `blueprint.ts` file encompasses the following elements:
1. Source repository - serves as a reference point for workflow configurations
2. Environment - Where we define the CI/CD environment, including the connection to the AWS account.
3. Workflow Actions
- An Action includes the following major components
- A wrapper function that generates a workflow Action based on the interface
- We will have following actions 1. FrontendBuildAndPackage 2. FrontendTest 3. CDKBootstrapAction 4. CDKDeploy
4. WorkflowBuilder - Responsible for defining the workflow name, compute type, trigger type, and the required actions
5. Workflow - Collects all WorkflowBuilder instances and incorporates them into the source code repository
Generate workflow yaml file
Run yarn blueprint:synth (This script is from `package.json`)
We have the generated files in `synth/00.synth.defaults.json/proposed-bundle` and we have our workflow YAML file is located at `synth/00.synth.defaults.json/proposed-bundle/src/cdk-todo-web-app/.codecatalyst/workflows/main_fullstack_workflow.yaml`
Copy the YAML file
Now we can push the code to the repository and check the workflow run
Conclusion
Congratulations! You have successfully generated CodeCatalyst workflows as code using codecatalyst-blueprints without enabling the CodeCatalyst Enterprise tier.
You can create an Action to automatically generate and update the workflow YAML file by pushing a new commit to the main branch, reflecting changes from the `blueprint.ts` file.
