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HomeOps Platform – Deployment

How is the platform deployed and prepared for continuous delivery?

Conceptual Deployment Strategy

The HomeOps Platform is designed to be deployed incrementally, with deployment practices evolving alongside the maturity of the system. At an umbrella-project level, the focus is not on the exact mechanics of deployment, but on defining clear responsibilities, boundaries, and prerequisites that enable reliable delivery over time.

Individual platform components are deployed independently. Client applications, backend services, and supporting infrastructure are treated as separate deployment units, allowing changes to be introduced without requiring a full system redeploy. This approach supports modularity and reduces the risk of tightly coupling development and release cycles across components.

The primary deployment targets considered for the platform include:

  • Static hosting environments (e.g. documentation and static web clients)
  • Stateful and reactive application components
  • A self-hosted server environment for backend services and APIs

Some platform components, such as the home control system, are expected to be stateful and reactive rather than purely static. These components may respond to changing data, external inputs, or user interactions at runtime. As a result, their deployment requires additional consideration beyond static artifact publishing, including runtime availability, state management, and operational stability.

While early stages may rely on manual deployment steps, the overall strategy assumes a gradual transition toward reproducible and automated deployments as system boundaries and interfaces become more stable.

Deployment boundaries follow the same separation of concerns defined in the platform architecture. Client applications, backend services, data storage components, and supporting infrastructure are treated as distinct deployment concerns, even when they share the same physical server environment. This separation helps prevent deployment decisions from introducing unintended coupling between components.

CI/CD as an Enabling Mechanism

Within the HomeOps Platform, CI/CD is viewed as an enabling mechanism rather than an immediate requirement. Automated pipelines are introduced only when they provide clear value and when the surrounding system context is sufficiently defined.

One of the purposes of this umbrella-level project is to identify when continuous integration and deployment become feasible and meaningful. This includes understanding which architectural decisions, interface definitions, and operational assumptions must be in place before automation can reliably support development rather than hinder it.

At the platform level, the first practical use of CI/CD is the automated publishing of documentation. This establishes a working pipeline early on, without introducing unnecessary complexity or dependencies on incomplete components.

Environment Separation

The platform distinguishes conceptually between different environments, even when physical resources are limited. Development, testing, and production concerns are treated separately at a logical level to reduce risk and clarify expectations.

In early stages, these environments may coexist on the same physical server or rely on manual processes. However, the architectural intent is to maintain clear separation of configuration, credentials, and deployment artifacts to support future automation and safer iteration.

CI/CD Readiness Criteria

Before enabling continuous integration or continuous deployment for a specific component, the following conditions should generally be met:

  • The component has a clearly defined responsibility and scope
  • Interfaces to other components are documented and reasonably stable
  • A minimal validation strategy exists (e.g. linting, tests, or build checks)
  • The deployment target is known and reproducible
  • Failures can be detected and diagnosed through logs or other feedback mechanisms
  • Security assumptions and credential handling for the component are defined and documented

By treating CI/CD readiness as a set of explicit criteria rather than a default assumption, the platform encourages deliberate and sustainable automation practices.