Feature Experimentation Workflow with GitHub Branches.

Question

Pulumi · Accepted Answer

Creating a feature experimentation workflow involves using a version control system like GitHub to isolate changes in separate branches. The typical process involves creating a feature branch off the main branch, making changes in this new branch, and then merging the changes back into the main branch upon completion.

To automate this process with Pulumi and GitHub, we can use Pulumi's GitHub provider to create and manage GitHub branches programmatically.

Below you will find a Pulumi program in Python that demonstrates how to create a new feature branch in a GitHub repository. We will use the `pulumi_github` package to interact with GitHub:

```python
import pulumi
import pulumi_github as github

# Replace the following with your GitHub repository details
repository_name = 'example-repo'  # GitHub repository where you want to create the branch
source_branch_name = 'main'       # The name of the branch you want to branch from
feature_branch_name = 'feature-x' # The name of the new feature branch

# Fetch the repository using the GitHub provider
repo = github.Repository.get('repository', repository_name)

# Create a new branch for the feature from the source branch
feature_branch = github.Branch('feature-branch',
    repository=repo.name,
    branch=feature_branch_name,
    source_branch=source_branch_name,
)

pulumi.export('feature_branch_name', feature_branch.branch)

```

Here's what this Pulumi program does:

1. It defines some important variables including the name of the GitHub repository (`repository_name`), the source branch name (`source_branch_name`), and the feature branch name (`feature_branch_name`) that we want to create for our feature.
2. It obtains a reference to the repository on GitHub using Pulumi's `get` function.
3. It creates a new `Branch` resource using Pulumi's GitHub provider. This branch will be based on the `source_branch_name` and will be named `feature_branch_name`.

This program will manage the feature branch as a real infrastructure. You will be able to create, update, and delete it programmatically just like you would with any cloud resource managed by Pulumi.

### Running the Program
To run this program, you'll need to have Pulumi installed and configured with your GitHub access token. You'll also need the `pulumi_github` provider installed in your Python environment. With Pulumi set up, you can simply apply this Pulumi program to create the feature branch in your GitHub repository.

You can view the [GitHub Branch documentation](https://www.pulumi.com/registry/packages/github/api-docs/branch/) for additional options you may use with the `Branch` resource for different scenarios, such as branch protection rules or branch deletion constraints.

Remember, with Pulumi, you're not just automating infrastructure on cloud providers, but also managing the entire software development lifecycle, including interactions with version control systems like GitHub.