ikechukwu ElizabethScalable Task Platform
A production-grade DevOps project documenting the full lifecycle of a task management application, from a simple backend service to a containerized, automated, cloud-deployed, and observable platform.
Built in public, one week at a time.
What This Project Demonstrates
- Backend API development with Node.js and Express
- Containerization with Docker
- CI/CD automation with GitHub Actions, Amazon ECR, and Docker Hub
- Infrastructure as Code with Terraform
- Cloud deployment on AWS EC2
- Container orchestration with Kubernetes
- Monitoring and observability with Prometheus and Grafana
Stack
| Layer | Technology |
|---|---|
| Backend | Node.js, Express |
| Containerization | Docker, Docker Compose |
| CI/CD | GitHub Actions |
| Image Registry | Amazon ECR, Docker Hub |
| Infrastructure | Terraform |
| Cloud | AWS EC2 |
| Orchestration | Kubernetes |
| Monitoring | Prometheus, Grafana |
Roadmap
| Week | Topic | Status |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Project foundation and backend API | Done |
| 2 | Dockerize the backend | Done |
| 3 | React frontend and Docker Compose | Done |
| 4 | CI/CD pipeline with GitHub Actions, ECR and Docker Hub | Done |
| 5 | Terraform infrastructure and CI/CD pipeline extension | Done |
| 6 | Cloud deployment on AWS EC2 | Done |
| 7 | Database integration | Upcoming |
| 8 | Kubernetes deployment | Upcoming |
| 9 | Monitoring with Prometheus and Grafana | Upcoming |
| 10 | Hardening and project polish | Upcoming |
API Endpoints
| Method | Route | Description |
|---|---|---|
| GET | /api | API status |
| GET | /api/health | Returns status and uptime |
| GET | /api/tasks | Returns all tasks |
| POST | /api/tasks | Creates a new task |
| PATCH | /api/tasks/:id | Toggles task complete or incomplete |
| DELETE | /api/tasks/:id | Deletes a task |
Getting Started
Prerequisites
- Node.js 20 or higher
- npm
- Docker and Docker Compose
Run Locally Without Docker
git clone https://github.com/elizabeth-ikechukwu/scalable-task-platform.git
cd scalable-task-platform/app/backend
cp .env.example .env
npm install
npm start
Server runs on http://localhost:3000
Run With Docker Compose
git clone https://github.com/elizabeth-ikechukwu/scalable-task-platform.git
cd scalable-task-platform
docker compose up -d
Frontend runs on http://localhost:80
CI/CD Pipeline
Every pull request and push to main triggers a five-stage pipeline:
lint -> unit-test -> build-and-integration-test -> publish -> terraform-apply
terraform-planruns on every pull request — shows exactly what infrastructure will change before mergingterraform-applyruns on merge tomain— infrastructure is provisioned by the pipeline, never from a local machine- The
publishstage pushes images to both Amazon ECR and Docker Hub, tagged withlatestand the short Git SHA
AWS authentication uses OIDC — no static credentials stored in GitHub secrets.
Infrastructure
All infrastructure is provisioned with Terraform and lives in infra/terraform/.
| Resource | Details |
|---|---|
| VPC | Custom VPC with public subnet |
| Networking | Internet gateway, route tables |
| Security | Security groups with least-privilege rules |
| Compute | EC2 t3.micro running Amazon Linux 2023 |
| IAM | Instance profile with SSM and ECR permissions |
| State | S3 remote backend with native state locking |
EC2 instances configure themselves on first boot via a user data script — Docker is installed, images are pulled from ECR, and containers start automatically. No SSH required. All access via AWS SSM Session Manager.
Weekly Updates
Detailed documentation for each week is in the docs folder.
Author
Ikechukwu Elizabeth Nkwo
DevOps and Cloud Engineer