Production Infrastructure

This guide covers how TUMApply is deployed to the testserver and production environments.

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Docker Setup

TUMApply uses Docker Compose for server deployments. The configuration files are located in the docker/ directory:

File	Purpose
docker/compose.yaml	Testserver deployment (MySQL + TUMApply + Nginx)
docker/compose-prod.yaml	Production deployment (MySQL + TUMApply + Nginx)
docker/mysql.env	MySQL environment variables (local defaults)
docker/tumapply.env	TUMApply environment variables (local defaults)

Both compose files run the full stack:

• MySQL — database with UTF-8 support
• TUMApply — the application image pulled from ghcr.io/ls1intum/tum-apply
• Nginx — reverse proxy with SSL termination using TUM certificates

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Environment Variables & Secrets

The .env files in the docker/ directory (mysql.env, tumapply.env) contain local defaults only. On the testserver and production, these values are overwritten by GitHub Variables and Secrets configured in the repository settings.

All sensitive configuration (database credentials, API keys, etc.) must be managed via GitHub Secrets — never commit secrets to the repository.

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Deployment Workflows

Both testserver and production deployments are triggered via Helios, which in the background triggers GitHub Actions workflows.

	Testserver	Production
Compose file	docker/compose.yaml	docker/compose-prod.yaml
URL	tumapply-test.aet.cit.tum.de	tumapply.aet.cit.tum.de
Workflow	deploy-to-testserver.yml	deploy-to-production.yml
Deployed via	Helios (by developers)	Helios (by admins)
Purpose	Testing PR branches	Live application

Both workflows:

1. Take a branch name and target environment as input
2. Use the respective compose file
3. Deploy to /opt/tum-apply on the target vm

warning

Production deployments should only be triggered by an admin after thorough testing on the testserver.