Deploy from public repo with 2 different apps

Question

Hi all,

I’ve created new app (and it’s publicly available as GitHub repo), but the problem is that creating app from GitHub repo doesnt work in my case somehow: while at Create Resource From Source Code page, selecting Github as service provider + repo name + source dir as / leads to no component detected.

In general, root dir of repo consists only of 3 elements: README, /frontend and /backend. I start frontend app (nodeJS + Svelte) via cd frontend && npm run dev (being in / dir), and backend app (Python + FastAPI, Dockerfile + Docker-compose, K8s is also used, reqs.txt available) via cd backend && docker-compose up --build (also being in / dir).

I tried setting source dir to /frontend / /backend : it helps, but detects either of apps, not both.

It seems like I’m doing something completely wrong, hence the question: how do I deploy a project, service provider of which is GitHub, with multiple apps inside?

===

If I’ve missed some tutorial covering this case - sorry for that, just drop a link :)

Bobby · Answer

Hey there!

Is this regarding the DigitalOcean App Platform? If so, since your frontend is a Node.js app, you’ll need to set up a separate service for it:

Go to the App Platform dashboard and create a new app.
When selecting the repository, choose your GitHub repo and set the source directory to /frontend.
App Platform will detect it as a Node.js app. Confirm the build and deployment steps.
Set your build command to:
```
npm install && npm run build
```
Set the run command to:
```
npm start
```
Proceed to deploy the frontend app.

Next, we’ll set up the backend (Python + FastAPI) as a separate service:

Once the frontend is deployed, go back to your App Platform project and click Edit App.
Add a new component and select GitHub repository again.
This time, set the source directory to /backend.
Define the HTTP request path for the backend service (e.g., /api).
App Platform will detect it as a Python app. Confirm the build and deployment steps.

Make sure that the backend service is on a different route than the frontend service. For example, you can set the backend service to /api and the frontend service to /. This way, the frontend will be served from the root URL, and the backend will be served from /api. And your frontend can make API calls to the backend using the /api route prefix.

Let me know if you run into any issues or need further help with the configuration.

- Bobby

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Deploy from public repo with 2 different apps

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