GitHub Requests App

The GitHub request application is a tool designed to streamline and automate the process of managing and tracking request for GitHub. This includes the adding, removal or editing of members. Further documentation can be found here.

Overview

The GitHub Requests Application is a Node.js-based web application that provides a simple interface. Internal users (members of the Cognito user pool) fill in forms with requested details. When a request is submitted, an issue is created on the dedicated terraform repository, and an email is sent to the user from our github-request.cpe email address. The email includes a message containing the user's filled-in information.

The issue is then reviewed by the team, and further comments may be requested if necessary. Approval must be granted by two members of the team to avoid misconfigurations.

Frontend Technologies and Utils

• NodeJS
• ExpressJS
• Typescript
• NunJucks
• GOV.UK Design System
• Jest
• SuperTest
• Docker
• Git
• Terraform
• AWS

Config variables

Key	Description	Example Value
AUTH_PATH	Authentication base URL	https://cola.service.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/v2/<YOUR_SERVICE>
AUTH_SIGN_IN_URL	Authentication sign in URL	https://cola.service.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/v2/<YOUR_SERVICE>/login
AUTH_SIGN_OUT_URL	Authentication sign out URL	https://cola.service.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/v2/<YOUR_SERVICE>/?logout=true
AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID	AWS access key ID	[aws key ID]
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY	AWS secret key ID	secret
BASE_URL	Base application URL	http://localhost:3000 (dev mode)
CDN_HOST	CDN host	cdn_domain
COOKIE_ID_NAME	The name of the cookie	github-requests
COOKIE_PARSER_SECRET	Secret used in validating/calculating the cookie signature	secret
COOKIE_SESSION_SECRET	Secret key for signing the session cookie	secret
DEPARTMENT_NAME	Name of government department	Cabinet Office
DYNAMO_ADMIN_PORT	Port for local containerised DynamoDB admin page	8001 (dev mode)
DYNAMO_PORT	Port for local containerised DynamoDB database	8000 (dev mode)
DYNAMO_ENDPOINT	URL used to access the DynamoDB service in a specific AWS region	http://dynamodb-local:${DYNAMO_PORT} (dev mode)
DYNAMO_TABLE_NAME	Name of DynamoDB table	test-github-requests-submissions (dev mode)
FEATURE_FLAG_ENABLE_COOKIE_BANNER	Enable cookie banner feature flag	true or false
FEATURE_FLAG_ENABLE_AUTH	Enable authentication feature flag	true or false
FEATURE_FLAG_ENABLE_DYNAMO	Enable DynamoDB feature flag	true or false
FEATURE_FLAG_ENABLE_NOTIFY	Enable Notify feature flag	true or false
GITHUB_KEY	GitHub key	[github key]
GITHUB_ORG_NAME	GitHub organisation name	Cabinet Office
GITHUB_OWNER	GitHub owner	cabinetoffice
GITHUB_REPO_ISSUE_ASSIGNEE	GitHub team responsible to solve issues and update configs files	CPE_TEAM
GITHUB_REPO_ISSUE_LABEL	GitHub label to categorize the related issues	github-requests-app
GITHUB_TERRAFORM_REPO	GitHub private repo with terraform configurations with members, repos and teams files	cpe-terraform-infrastructure-github
HUMAN	Formatting messages form (default JSON)	true (Enable human formatting for log messages)
LOG_LEVEL	Logging levels	info
NODE_ENV	Node environment	development or production
NODE_SSL_ENABLED	Node SSL	true or false
NOTIFY_API_KEY	API Key for Notify service	[notify api key]
NOTIFY_EMAIL_TEMPLATE	Email template for Notify service	Template name
NOTIFY_USER_EMAIL	Email to contact from Notify service	[email protected]
NOTIFY_TEAM_EMAIL	Team email to contact from Notify service	[email protected]
PATH_SSL_CERTIFICATE	Path to SSL certificate	./infrastructure/host/test.cert
PATH_SSL_PRIVATE_KEY	Path to SSL private key	./infrastructure/host/test.key
PORT	Server port number	3000
REGION	AWS Region	eu-west-1
SESSION_APP_KEY	Session application key	git
SESSION_ID_NAME	Session ID name	connect.sid
USER_POOL_CLIENT_ID	Client ID of an app registered with the user pool in Amazon Cognito	secret
USER_POOL_ID	ID of the user pool in Amazon Cognito	secret

Launching the web-app

Prerequisites

1. Install NodeJS V20.8
2. Install Docker

Running local development environment with Docker

Docker is used to run the application in development mode, with tooling setup to detect changes in local src directory and reload the container's node server.

• Ensure that NODE_ENV=development is set in the .env file.

Building the application

To build the project, run:

make build

Building the Docker Image

Create a copy of the .env.example file and name it .env, then run:

make docker-build
make docker-up

This will then download the necessary dependencies, build the Docker image, and start the application. You will be able to access it on localhost:3000.

ESlint

We use ESlint as both a formatter and code quality assurance. Eslint can also be setup to format on save using a VScode extension:

1. Install the ESlint VScode extenstion.

2. Open your user settings (JSON) inside VScode and add the following:

   "editor.formatOnSave": true, 
   "editor.codeActionsOnSave": { "source.fixAll.eslint": true }

3. Reload VScode.

Recommendations

1. Use the Visual Studio Code IDE for development.
2. Use the preformatted PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE by adding meaningful description
3. Make sure test coverage is above 95%
4. Do not disable husky pre checks locally
5. Use MVC pattern when adding a new page/endpoint, including validation and authentication. Example can be found on the following doc description here
6. Happy coding

License

This code is open source software licensed under the MIT License.