Welcome to GitpodFlix! 🎬

Hey there new developer! 👋

Welcome to GitpodFlix, where we're providing the next generation of streaming experiences.

We're thrilled you joined, let's get you shipping today !

At GitpodFlix: we ship to production on your first day

We know happy developers that are in flow create better products and ship more value.

At GitpodFlix we have zero 'works on my machine' issues because of Gitpod. Onboarding is one-click to get a running environment with everything you need to ship new fixes and features today which is why:

We expect every new developer to ship to production on their first day.

Starting your development environment

1. Check your email
   • You should have an email invite to join the GitpodFlix organization
   • And a link for your first GitHub issue
2. Go to the projects catalog
   • Find it at: app.gitpod.io/projects
   • Here is every project in GitpodFlix that you have access to
3. Open up GitpodFlix
   • Search "GitpodFlix" in the list and click 'Create environment'

And bingo! Now have your first environment up and running—that was easy.

See above you now have:

1. A personal, isolated, secure, performant development environment
2. All required source code cloned and authenticated with git
3. Any secrets and access credentials installed ready-to-go
4. Your database, microservices and web server running (via "automations")
5. All your dependencies installed from node to sqlite

Making a code change

Now in the top right you can choose your favorite editor, whether that's IntelliJ, VS Code or even Cursor.

Your environment will automatically connect.

Here you have:

• All the source code in your favorite editor
• Your running web server on localhost:3000
• Your running ports for your API, database, etc
• All authenticated with your GitHub account
• A powerful environment secure in your corporate network

Tip: Let's rename "Gitpod Flix" to our name by updating frontend/src/components/Navbar.jsx.
Watch the web server live reload the change.

Now you're officially ready-to-code.

Explore your development environment

Now you're setup why not explore:

1. Running a database clear and seed "automation" from the Gitpod UI
2. Connecting to your environment with the CLI gitpod environment ssh
3. Adding dotfiles for your personal preferences

✨ How does this Gitpod magic work?

Dev Container

All of the dependencies are defined in the devcontainer.json file. Your platform team has configured a base image with all of your platform tooling ready to go. Any time platform tooling updates the next environment you open will automatically have the latest tooling.

Here's a simplified version of how that looks:

{
  "name": "GitpodFlix Dev Environment",
  "image": "mcr.microsoft.com/devcontainers/base:ubuntu",
  "features": {
    "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/node:1": {},
    "ghcr.io/warrenbuckley/codespace-features/sqlite:1": {}
  },
  "forwardPorts": [
    3000,
    ...
  ],
  "postCreateCommand": ".devcontainer/setup.sh",
  "customizations": {
    "vscode": {
      "extensions": [
        "dbaeumer.vscode-eslint",
        ...
      ]
    }
  }
}

This includes:

1. Dependencies like SQLite and Node.JS
2. Configurations of ports to forward
3. A script for additional dependencies and setup
4. Customizations for your editor

Automations

Your team have configured automations in .gitpod/automations.yaml.

Here's a simplified version of how that looks:

services:
  catalog:
    name: "GitpodFlix Web Server"
    triggeredBy:
      - postEnvironmentStart
    commands:
      start: |
        cd /workspaces/gitpodflix-demo/frontend
        PORT=3001 npx nodemon src/index.ts

tasks:
  seedDatabase:
    name: "Seed Database"
    description: "Seed the database with sample movies in a dramatic sequence"
    triggeredBy:
      - manual
      - postEnvironmentStart
    command: |
      PGPASSWORD=gitpod psql -h localhost -U gitpod -d gitpodflix -f seeds/01_seed_trending.sql

This includes:

• Configurations to start your webservers, databases and microservices
• Automated tasks to seed your database, run tests, etc

All of these are setup to be self-serve and automatically configured. If anything ever breaks, simply delete your environment and create a new one.

FAQs

Where is my environment running?

Environments run locally or remotely for different projects with different needs.

Can I run multiple environment at once?

Yes. The platform team have set policies to manage cost of remote environments.

Can I clone multiple repositories?

Yes.

Can I customize my environment?

Yes, with dotfiles.

Can environments run locally?

Yes for some projects with lower security requirements—but not for others.

What happens if the environment stops?

Your code is saved—simply restart to continue working.

Can I connect via SSH for Vim, etc?

Yes via the Gitpod CLI.

How do I increase my machine size?

Projects are configured with a specific machine size that's perfect to use.