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Developer Self-Service

Developer self-service enables developers to deploy and manage their applications and infrastructure independently, without constant reliance on the platform team.

Effective self-service requires patterns, practices, rules, constraints, and governance to be embedded within the modules developers use to define their infrastructure. These modules are often referred to as "approved blueprints" or "blessed modules." At Gruntwork, we call this the Infrastructure Catalog, which resides in a repository named infrastructure-catalog (formerly infrastructure-modules).

Within the infrastructure-catalog, we recommend following the infrastructure-live pattern and organizing catalog module code in a folder named modules.

Why self-service​

Benefits to developers​

Self-service allows developers to avoid "reinventing the wheel" by using pre-built, tested, and secure modules that are already approved for use. This reduces handoffs between platform and development teams, speeding up delivery and minimizing bottlenecks.

Benefits to platform teams​

Self-service enables platform teams to operate efficiently at scale. By centralizing control over reusable modules, platform teams can focus on standardizing testing, security, compliance, and governance. The workload of assisting developers with infrastructure code is reduced, while maintaining oversight and control.

Terragrunt catalog​

Terragrunt provides native support for an interface that allows developers to browse modules using a terminal-based UI and scaffold new modules with boilerplate. Repositories vended through DevOps Foundations include a catalog configuration in the root terragrunt.hcl file, pointing to a starter infrastructure-catalog repository with examples for expanding the catalog.

Using catalog​

In a DevOps Foundations repository, create a new directory for the new Terragrunt unit, then navigate to this directory.

Running terragrunt catalog opens an interactive terminal UI to browse available units in the infrastructure-catalog.

To scaffold a unit, select it and press S. The scaffold process automatically:

  • Downloads and templates the unit into the current directory.
  • Determines the module URL and latest version (tag), populating the source URL.
  • Parses the module’s input variables and generates placeholders in the inputs = { } block for easy configuration.

After replacing the placeholders, commit the new unit and push it to a new Pull Request for Gruntwork Pipelines to begin planning the changes.

Self-service best practices​

Versioning​

Adopt a consistent versioning strategy, such as semantic versioning, for all modules in the infrastructure catalog. This approach helps:

  • Track changes: Maintain a clear history of updates and modifications.
  • Enable rollbacks: Revert to previous versions if issues arise.
  • Ensure clarity: Use semantic versioning (e.g., v1.2.3) to communicate the scope of changes (major, minor, patch).

Leverage Gruntwork Patcher to roll out breaking changes efficiently while minimizing disruptions.

Infrastructure tagging and labeling​

A centralized catalog facilitates consistent tagging and labeling across infrastructure components, enabling:

  • Cost tracking and allocation: Assign costs to specific teams or projects using tags.
  • Access control: Manage and control resource access with tags.
  • Automation: Automate tasks such as provisioning, termination, and reporting based on tags.
  • Monitoring and alerting: Group and filter resources for effective monitoring and alerting.

Wrapper modules / services​

Use wrapper modules or services to simplify deployments and configurations. Wrappers can:

  • Encapsulate best practices: Integrate security, compliance, and operational standards into reusable modules.
  • Reduce boilerplate: Eliminate repetitive code for developers.
  • Standardize deployments: Ensure consistency and reduce errors across deployments.
  • Abstract complexity: Hide infrastructure complexity, allowing developers to focus on application logic.

Using stacks to keep developer code DRY​

Organize infrastructure into stacks to enhance reusability and maintainability. Terragrunt Stacks enable you to:

  • Group related resources: Manage interconnected units as a single entity.
  • Reduce code duplication: Avoid repeating code across environments or projects.
  • Promote modularity: Break complex infrastructure into manageable components.
  • Simplify management: Deploy, update, and destroy stacks with ease.