Alis Build how-to guides

Recipes for Alis Build Environments, DBD and Workstations, for builders who know the basics and have a goal. Each guide gives the exact commands and console clicks for one task.

Alis Build Environments

• Create a product: add a product to a build environment, or request one.
• Set up a build or deployment environment: create a build environment in your own Google Cloud organisation, or add a deployment environment to a product.
• Import a domain you already host on Cloud DNS: grant Alis access to your zone, import the domain and finish its verification.
• Create a service: register a service and get its folders in both repositories.
• Use code blocks: browse, install, upgrade and publish reusable service snapshots.
• Authorise and repair credentials: git and package credentials, diagnostics.
• Manage environment variables: set, unset, reveal and store variables in Secret Manager.

Alis Build DBD

• Define your API: write protobuf, validate it, publish a contract version and share it with other products.
• Install and upgrade packages: pull generated packages and bump Alis dependencies without touching registry credentials.
• Write a Dockerfile for your service: how images are detected, named and built.
• Write infrastructure with Terraform: the infra/ folder, injected variables and a Cloud Run service.
• Build a version: build from a pushed commit, choose a branch or commit, retag images.
• Deploy a version: deploy to one or more deployment environments, plan first, pass the production gate.
• Promote to production: plan, confirm and deploy a built version to a production environment.
• Read logs: build, deploy and runtime logs.
• Track and cancel operations: re-attach to, describe and cancel long-running work.

Alis Build Workstations

• Use workstations: your own machine inside a build environment, from the browser, ssh or herdr.
• Continue work on a workstation: hand a local agent session off to a workstation and bring it back.
• Run a service locally: alis run, the product's .alis/.env and the Makefile contract.
• Preview a service frontend: find the running frontend's address and let your agent open it with its browser tools.
• Annotate your app and let agents test it: the Alis toolbar on every port's pages, who gets the notes, sharing a port with reviewers and your sign-in with the agents.