switchboard

README

Switchboard

Switchboard is a workflow automation tool built for developers. It is open-source, highly-extensible, configuration-first, and is designed to be human-readable while still meeting the most essential needs of a developer.

Key Features

1. Human-Readable -> Author workflows in HCL (Hashicorp Configuration Language), a format optimized for readability and productivity.
2. Extensible -> All integrations are written in their own isolated codebase called a Provider. Use the official providers or write your own.
3. Open-Source -> Essential for transparency, free from vendor-lock, and guaranteed to be available.
4. Multi-Environment Support -> Have as many workspaces as you want, depending on your needs.
5. CI/CD & Version-Control -> Workflow automation that actually works with you and your team.
6. And Much More -> Managed Authentication, Automated Trigger Registration, Effective Error and Retry Settings, just to name a few.

Repository Contents

This repository includes a selection of tools, packages, and content. Specifically,

1. The Switchboard CLI - written in GO and is the main tool used by developers within the Switchboard toolset ecosystem. You can find the latest release in the releases page.
2. Shared Packages & Modules - libraries that are shared in other tools within the Switchboard toolset. You can find this in the /internal/shared folder
3. Docs - All written in markdown, and synced with Gitbook. These files are stored in /docs. Find the Gitbook hosted docs at https://docs.go-switchboard.com

Primary CLI Commands

Below are the primary commands available in the CLI

1. switchboard init - downloads any necessary dependencies specified in your workflow config. This must be run first for any other command to work.
2. switchboard validate - validates that your entire workflow configuration is valid.
3. switchboard deploy - will first run validation, and then deploy all changes to the cloud environment, keeping any unmodified workflows untouched. This also dynamically downloads + starts or stops + deletes providers in the cloud environment, depending on the diff of the previous workflow state.
4. switchboard destroy - terminates all workflows by deregistering any triggers (webhooks, event-listeners, etc.) and deleting all providers on the cloud environment.

switchboard deploy and switchboard destroy both assume the cloud environment exists, is initialized, and is available from where the CLI is running. The following commands are helpers for getting your cloud environment up and running

Cloud CLI Commands

1. switchboard cloud init - this will create and initialize the cloud environment for you. Depending on the cloud provider, this command may not be supported (i.e. you have to setup the cloud environment on your own).
2. switchboard cloud up - starts the coordinator service on a publicly exposed location. This service handles all incoming events from integrations, coordinates all workflows, communicates with providers, and stores workflow state. It is also primary endpoint the CLI communicates with, so it is essential this is running.
3. switchboard cloud down - opposite of the above command. switchboard destroy must be run before this command, or it will fail.
4. switchboard cloud destroy - opposite of the init command, but may not be available, depending on the cloud provider, and the workflow configuration settings.

Documentation

Overview

Package main is the entrypoint for the switchboard CLI. The Switchboard CLI is the main tool used for validating, processing, and deploying workflows created using the switchboard workflow specification. All global settings and workflows are build inside of HCL (Hashicorp Configuration Language) files.