SaaS startup — Friday deploys back on the

Project overview

A Quebec SaaS team shipping React/Next.js frontends and NestJS APIs was spending half a day per release — manual deploys, secrets in config files, no staging gate. Pouya K designed the GitHub Actions → AKS pipeline, containerized the services, and added automated smoke tests; Amir KH handled Azure networking, Key Vault integration, and the DigitalOcean-to-AKS cutover plan.

Client context

Industry: Technology / SaaS
Client size / environment: 18-person product team · Montreal
Primary stakeholders: CTO, platform engineer, product leads

Challenge

Friday deploys were banned. Secrets lived in repo env files. Staging did not mirror production ingress or TLS, so “works in staging” was not trusted.

Scope delivered

AKS cluster baseline with staging + production namespaces

GitHub Actions pipeline with manual approval gate to production

Azure Key Vault for secrets — zero secrets in git

Automated smoke tests on every deploy artifact

Before / after

Before

Manual SSH deploys, secrets in config, no staging parity, Friday releases off the table.

After

Containerized workloads, Key Vault-backed secrets, and sub-60-minute release cadence with automated smoke gates — Friday deploys back on the calendar.

Engineering team before automated pipeline — Before: manual deploy rituals and scattered secrets

CI/CD pipeline dashboard after automation — After: GitHub Actions pipeline with staging gate and smoke tests

Visual evidence

Cloud infrastructure operations view — AKS cluster operations — staging and production namespaces

Deployment pipeline screenshot — Implementation evidence — automated release pipeline on screen

Delivery timeline

Phase 1

Sprint 1: Staging AKS + pipeline skeleton + Key Vault wiring

Phase 2

Sprint 2: Service containerization and smoke test suite

Phase 3

Sprint 3: Production cutover, DNS/ingress swap, team training

Outcome

Deploy anxiety dropped. The platform engineer said it was the first time staging actually matched how production behaved behind TLS and ingress.

"Pouya K owned the pipeline and tests; Amir made the Azure networking make sense. We finally ship on Friday without fear." — CTO, anonymized Quebec SaaS

Technology stack

GitHub Actions, Azure Kubernetes Service, Key Vault, NestJS, Next.js, Docker, Amen DevOps retainer.

SaaS startup — Friday deploys back on the calendar