Dockerization (Optional)
Relevant source files
The following files were used as context for generating this wiki page:Introduction
The qa-dashboard project is designed to be deployable using containerization technologies like Docker, although this is presented as an optional infrastructure choice. The repository does not include specific Dockerfile or docker-compose.yml files, but the documentation provides guidance on how to deploy the separated frontend and backend services. This approach allows for scalable and consistent deployments across different environments.
The core idea is to containerize the Next.js frontend and the FastAPI backend as two distinct services. These containers would then be deployed using platforms like Vercel for the frontend and AWS services (Elastic Beanstalk, Lambda) for the backend. A managed database service, AWS RDS for PostgreSQL, is the recommended database solution to work alongside the containerized application components.
Sources: README.md:31, README.md:162-177
Suggested Deployment Architecture
The project is split into a backend (FastAPI) and a web (Next.js) application, which are intended to be deployed independently. The frontend communicates with the backend via configurable API and WebSocket URLs.
This diagram illustrates the high-level deployment architecture suggested in the project documentation.
Backend Deployment
The documentation suggests deploying the FastAPI backend to AWS services.
Sources: README.md:162-166
Recommended Services
- AWS Elastic Beanstalk: A PaaS that can manage the deployment, scaling, and load balancing of the FastAPI application.
- AWS Lambda + API Gateway: A serverless approach where the FastAPI application could be wrapped in a Lambda function and exposed via an API Gateway.
Deployment Flow (Example with Elastic Beanstalk)
The following diagram shows a typical CI/CD flow for deploying the backend to AWS Elastic Beanstalk.
Sources: README.md:162-166
Backend Configuration
For a containerized backend to function, it must be configured with environment variables to connect to the database and for security.
| Variable | Description | Example Value |
|---|---|---|
DB_HOST | The endpoint for the AWS RDS PostgreSQL instance. | your-rds-endpoint.rds.amazonaws.com |
DB_PORT | The port for the database connection. | 5432 |
DB_NAME | The name of the database. | qa_dashboard |
DB_USER | The database user. | admin |
DB_PASSWORD | The database password. | your-secure-password |
SECRET_KEY | A secret key for signing JWT tokens. | your-secret-key-change-in-production |
WEBHOOK_URL | Optional URL for webhook notifications. | https://your-webhook-endpoint.com/webhook |
OPENAI_API_KEY | Optional key for Langchain AI suggestions. | your-openai-key |
Sources: README.md:133-148
The backend application is started using uvicorn. A CMD in a Dockerfile would typically execute this command.
uvicorn main:app --reload
Sources: README.md:83
Frontend Deployment
The documentation recommends Vercel for deploying the Next.js frontend, but also suggests AWS S3 + CloudFront as an alternative.
Sources: README.md:168-177, web/README.md:26-30
Recommended Services
- Vercel: The recommended and easiest way, offering seamless integration with Next.js.
- AWS S3 + CloudFront: A traditional approach for hosting static site builds.
Deployment Flow (Example with Vercel)
Vercel automatically handles the build and deployment process when connected to a GitHub repository.
Sources: web/README.md:26-30, web/package.json:6
Frontend Configuration
The frontend container needs environment variables to locate the backend API and WebSocket services.
| Variable | Description | Example Value |
|---|---|---|
NEXT_PUBLIC_API_BASE_URL | The base URL for the backend FastAPI server. | http://localhost:8000 |
NEXT_PUBLIC_WS_BASE_URL | The WebSocket URL for the backend server. | ws://localhost:8000 |
These variables are defined in web/src/config/api.js and are expected to be set during the build/deployment process.
Sources: README.md:151-154, web/src/config/api.js:2-3
The key build script for the frontend is defined in web/package.json:
{
"scripts": {
"dev": "next dev",
"build": "next build",
"start": "next start",
"lint": "eslint"
}
}
Sources: web/package.json:5-9
Summary
While the project does not provide ready-to-use Dockerfiles, the documentation in README.md and the project's structure strongly support a container-based deployment strategy. By containerizing the frontend and backend separately and managing configuration through environment variables, the application can be deployed flexibly to modern cloud platforms like AWS and Vercel. This approach aligns with best practices for scalable web applications.
Sources: README.md:31, README.md:162-177