Key Enhancements and Value Proposition

• Serverless Automation: GitHub Actions acts as the orchestration engine, natively integrated with the source code, eliminating the need to manage a separate CI server (like Jenkins) for basic workflow management.
• Immutable Artifacts: By using Docker and storing images in Docker Hub, we create immutable build artifacts. The code deployed is guaranteed to be the exact code that was tested.
• BSecure & Scalable Deployment: The pipeline uses a secure, self-hosted runner on AWS EC2, providing better control over the deployment environment while keeping the automation steps centralized in GitHub.

The Automated Two-Stage Deployment Pipeline

The workflow is broken down into two sequential and automated jobs:

1. Build and Push Docker Image:

Step	Tool/Service	Description
Code Commit	Developer GitHub	The developer pushes their Node.js or other application code to the GitHub repository, which triggers the pipeline.
Build Docker Image	GitHub Actions	GitHub Actions runs the Build Job. It takes the application code and builds a standardized Docker Image.
Push Image	Docker Hub	The newly built image is immediately pushed to Docker Hub (our container registry). This action makes the image available for deployment and serves as the single source of truth for the application artifact.

2. Deploy Job (Continuous Delivery - CD)

Step	Tool/Service	Description
Trigger	GitHub Actions	The deployment process "Triggers after Build Job" completes successfully, ensuring only successful builds are deployed.
Deployment Runner	Amazon EC2 (Self-hosted Runner)	The Deploy Job utilizes a Configured self-hosted runner on EC2. This instance connects back to GitHub Actions to execute the deployment commands securely within the AWS environment.
Run Container	Docker Hub EC2	The runner performs a Pull Image from Docker Hub and then uses the Docker engine on the EC2 instance to Run Docker Image as a container.

The Business Impact

This architecture delivers a cutting-edge deployment capability:

• Zero-Downtime Potential: Containerized deployments are fast, facilitating modern blue/green or rolling update strategies.
• Reduced Overhead: By leveraging GitHub Actions, we minimize the infrastructure needed to manage the pipeline itself.
• Developer Focus: Developers can focus entirely on writing application code (Node.js/other) knowing that the infrastructure automatically handles the entire path to production.

This solution represents the best practices in modern cloud application delivery.