Hello CI/CD — React + .NET, GitHub Actions, Docker, AWS

A tiny Todo app built for learning CI/CD. The app is simple on purpose: the point is the pipeline around it, which is the same pattern real companies use.

 feature branch ──push──▶ Pull Request ──────────────▶ merge to main
                              │                              │
                         ci.yml (every commit)          release.yml
                         ├ Test .NET API                ├ ci.yml again
                         ├ Lint + build React           ├ publish Docker images → ghcr.io
                         └ Docker builds (api, web)     └ deploy → AWS Lambda + S3
                              │
                     branch protection: no merge unless all green

Lessons (do them in order)

#	Lesson	You'll learn
1	Git & GitHub Flow	branches, commits, PRs, pushing this repo
2	GitHub Actions basics	workflows, triggers, jobs, steps, secrets, logs
3	Checks & branch protection	checks on every commit, blocking bad merges
4	Docker images	Dockerfiles, compose, publishing images on merge
5	Deploy to AWS	Lambda, S3, IAM, automatic deploys
6	Use it on any project	checklist + templates for your own projects

What's in the repo

Path	What it is
HelloCicd.sln	Solution: open in Visual Studio / Rider
api/	.NET 8 minimal API (runs locally, in Docker, and in AWS Lambda)
api.Tests/	xUnit tests: if they fail, nothing merges or deploys
web/	React app (Vite)
docker-compose.yml	Run the whole app in containers
.github/workflows/ci.yml	Checks for every PR commit
.github/workflows/release.yml	Images + deploy on merge to main
.github/dependabot.yml	Weekly dependency-update PRs
aws/	IAM / S3 policies to paste in the AWS console

Run it locally

Backend: open HelloCicd.sln in Visual Studio and press F5, or run:

dotnet run --project api          # http://localhost:5080/api/health

Frontend (second terminal):

cd web
npm install
npm run dev                       # http://localhost:5173

Tests: dotnet test HelloCicd.sln

Everything in Docker: docker compose up --build → web http://localhost:3000, API http://localhost:8080