Phase 6.1 ✅ Deployment Strategy (Right Now)

[vimal-java-dev]

Since we want to:

“Go live with this repo only once as soon as for the backend requirement”

We will:

1. Keep this single-service deployment
2. Push image to GHCR
3. Deploy manually on VPS
4. No Postgres container yet
5. No docker-compose yet
6. Keep architecture clean and minimal

That is correct for this stage.

[vimal-java-dev]

Since we want to:

“Go live with this repo only once as soon as for the backend requirement”

We will:

1. Keep this single-service deployment
2. Push image to GHCR
3. Deploy manually on VPS
4. No Postgres container yet
5. No docker-compose yet
6. Keep architecture clean and minimal

That is correct for this stage.

These are an important architectural decision as we have.
Let’s make it precise.

1. Multiple GitHub accounts
2. Feature branches
3. PR → merge → close workflow
4. GPG signed commits
5. SSH push
6. Multiple contributors pushing to main

So we should have followed this:
-> CI + GHCR push happens from feature branch or main?
-> CI will NOT push image (correct behavior).

🔐 Important About GHCR Permissions

GitHub automatically grants permission to push a container.
We do NOT need:

• Separate token per account
• Separate login per account
• Multiple registry setups

Everything is tied to the repository — not the individual user.

🛑 What You SHOULD NOT Do

❌ Do NOT trigger image push from feature branches
❌ Do NOT allow workflow on pull_request to push image
❌ Do NOT push images manually from the local machine

That breaks CI/CD discipline.

[vimal-tech-dev]

Assign me.

[vimal-tech-dev]

🏗 Recommended Clean Structure
🧠 Professional Mental Model

My thought is like these:

• Feature branch = experiment
• Pull request = review
• Main branch = release candidate
• Registry push = official artifact
• VPS deploy = production

🏆 Final Clear Answer
Should we do the registry push step from the feature branch?
-> No.

We:

• Work in the feature branch
• Create PR
• Merge to main
• CI builds + pushes the image automatically

That is the correct enterprise-grade workflow.

[vimal-java-dev]

🏗 Recommended Clean Structure
🧠 Professional Mental Model

My thought is like this:

• Feature branch = experiment
• Pull request = review
• Main branch = release candidate
• Registry push = official artifact
• VPS deploy = production

🏆 Final Clear Answer Should we do the registry push step from the feature branch? -> No.

We:

• Work in the feature branch
• Create PR
• Merge to main
• CI builds + pushes the image automatically

That is the correct enterprise-grade workflow.

🏗 Correct Professional CI Structure

We will:

1. Keep PR validation
2. Add GHCR login
3. Push image only on push
4. Keep job separation clean

[vimal-tech-dev]

🏗 Recommended Clean Structure
🧠 Professional Mental Model
My thought is like this:

• Feature branch = experiment
• Pull request = review
• Main branch = release candidate
• Registry push = official artifact
• VPS deploy = production

🏆 Final Clear Answer Should we do the registry push step from the feature branch? -> No.
We:

• Work in the feature branch
• Create PR
• Merge to main
• CI builds + pushes the image automatically

That is the correct enterprise-grade workflow.

🏗 Correct Professional CI Structure

We will:

1. Keep PR validation
2. Add GHCR login
3. Push image only on push
4. Keep job separation clean

Yeah! I feel its good separation of concerns, as multiple contributors as well as cross-cutting.

[vimal-tech-dev]

Please review my PR #14.

[vimal-tech-dev]

🚀 Next Step: After I have committed this

1. Merged a small PR
2. Go to:

• GitHub → Profile → Packages
• Can you confirm the container exists?

[vimal-java-dev]

Yeah! Sounds good,

It exists under packages with repository name vimaltech-contact-api.

[vimal-java-dev]

🏆 Where You Stand (Professional Level)

You are transitioning from:

“Docker works locally”

to

“I publish container artefacts to a registry and deploy from the registry”

That is real DevOps maturity.