Automating SaaS Deployment: A Solo Developer’s CI/CD Journey
🚀 The Challenge: The Struggles of Manual Deployment
For a long time, my workflow as a solo developer was completely manual. Every time I updated my project, I had to:
✅ Develop everything on my MacBook
✅ Manually upload backend files via FileZilla
✅ Copy and paste frontend updates into the public_html directory
✅ Worry about accidentally breaking the website
✅ Keep a local backup of my React Native mobile project without versioning
This worked—but it was slow, error-prone, and frustrating.
🔄 Enter Git, GitHub & CI/CD: The Game-Changer
I wanted to move to Continuous Integration and Deployment (CI/CD) but didn’t know where to start. The idea of automating deployments felt complex. Slowly, a structured plan emerged.
✅ Step 1: Structuring the Project for Better Organization
Instead of keeping everything in one place, I created three separate projects:
📂 Backend → Handles API requests & database interactions.
📂 Frontend-Web → React.js SaaS website.
📂 Frontend-Mobile → React Native mobile app.
Each part became its own GitHub repository, so I could update and deploy them independently.
🚀 The Breakthrough: Automating Deployment via GitHub Actions
I wanted my workflow to be as simple as:
✅ Make changes
✅ Push to GitHub
✅ Files automatically deploy to the server
How We Built It:
- Set up Git repositories for backend, frontend-web, and frontend-mobile
- Configured GitHub Actions to handle FTP deployment
- Stored credentials securely using GitHub Secrets
- Automated React.js build processes before deployment
- Kept the mobile app backed up until it’s ready for the App Store & Play Store
📌 The Final Workflow: Simplicity & Power
Now, every time I push my code, the latest version is automatically deployed. No more manual uploads, no more deployment worries!
✅ Backend updates → Automatically deployed via FTP.
✅ Frontend-web updates → Built, then deployed via FTP.
✅ Frontend-mobile → Temporarily stored for backup until final release.
🚀 What once took 30-45 minutes per update now happens instantly!
💡 A Message to Developers
If you’re struggling with manual deployments, this guide will help you transform your workflow. CI/CD isn’t just for big teams—it’s a lifesaver for solo developers too!
I have also documented the entire step-by-step process of how this CI/CD pipeline was built, including:
✅ Git & GitHub setup
✅ Folder structure for efficient deployment
✅ CI/CD pipeline with GitHub Actions
✅ Automating deployments using FTP
💡 Read the full tutorial here: [Insert Link to the CI/CD Instructions Post]
📌 Helpful Git, GitHub, and CLI Commands for Developers
🔹 Git Commands
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
git init |
Initialize a new Git repository |
git clone <repo-url> |
Clone an existing repository |
git branch -M main |
Rename the current branch to main
|
git add . |
Stage all changes for commit |
git commit -m "message" |
Commit changes with a message |
git push origin main |
Push changes to GitHub |
git pull origin main |
Pull latest changes from GitHub |
git status |
Check the status of your repo |
git log --oneline |
View commit history |
git reset --soft HEAD~1 |
Undo last commit but keep changes |
🔹 GitHub Commands
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
gh repo create <repo-name> |
Create a new repository using GitHub CLI |
gh auth login |
Authenticate GitHub CLI |
gh issue list |
List all issues in a repo |
gh pr create |
Create a pull request |
gh secret set <name> -b"value" |
Add a secret to GitHub Actions |
🔹 Useful CLI Commands
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
ls -la |
List files with details |
mkdir <folder-name> |
Create a new folder |
rm -rf <folder-name> |
Delete a folder and its contents |
chmod 755 <file> |
Change file permissions |
pm2 restart all |
Restart all Node.js applications |
curl -I <url> |
Check if a website is reachable |
🚀 These commands will help streamline your development and deployment process Mahaprabhu!
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