[HN Gopher] Next-generation Deploy Previews, plus Netlify acquir...
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       Next-generation Deploy Previews, plus Netlify acquires FeaturePeek
       (YC S19)
        
       Author : csmajorfive
       Score  : 129 points
       Date   : 2021-05-19 16:01 UTC (6 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.netlify.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.netlify.com)
        
       | simonw wrote:
       | I'm still optimistic for Python Netlify functions:
       | https://answers.netlify.com/t/python-lambda-functions/3423/1...
       | 
       | If they were JavaSript only I wouldn't hold much hope, but
       | they've been both JavaScript and Go for ages now - and I would
       | expect Python to have a much larger user-base than Go for this.
        
       | bigyikes wrote:
       | We have a deploy preview system at work and it is so valuable. I
       | see less value in the collaboration tools built on top of these
       | previews, but it's cool nonetheless.
        
         | robertlagrant wrote:
         | The first time I saw CloudFlare Pages do a preview it was a
         | little magical. Really impressive stuff.
        
       | kevincox wrote:
       | GitLab has a similar feature:
       | https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/review_apps/#visual-reviews
       | 
       | It does require a bit more work to set up (which is unfortunate,
       | since they already use the URL could they use that to map back to
       | the PR?) but seems basically the same if not quite as polished.
        
         | kenrose wrote:
         | > but seems basically the same if not quite as polished.
         | 
         | That describes many of GitLab's features.
        
         | sytse wrote:
         | We're exploring how to reduce or remove this set up work with
         | https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/35322
        
       | Rodeoclash wrote:
       | If anyone is interested in a (semi!) working version of feature
       | previews that is open source, I threw together
       | https://gitlab.com/Rodeoclash/StageHand
       | 
       | It takes a branch in GitHub and use a config file to bootstrap
       | the application inside a K8's cluster using a "docker in docker"
       | model. If you could describe your infrastructure as a docker-
       | compose.yml then you can launch it as a preview.
       | 
       | I'm not really a marketing person so it never went any further
       | than a proof of concept. However, if someone is interested in
       | working with it then I'm happy to support getting it running.
        
       | esilverman wrote:
       | Eric here from FeaturePeek, we are thrilled to be part of
       | Netlify!
        
         | ridruejo wrote:
         | Congratulations! Exciting news :)
        
         | elitan wrote:
         | Congratulations! Good work!
        
           | esilverman wrote:
           | thank you!
        
           | schnebbau wrote:
           | What are you congratulating?
        
         | swyx wrote:
         | question if you will entertain it - what was your original YC
         | pitch like? i'd love to see the evolution of this idea :)
        
       | quaffapint wrote:
       | A year or so ago I was working on a similar product as
       | FeaturePeek - a platform agnostic deploy preview and
       | collaboration tool. I decided not enough people would want that
       | outside of their hosting platform and shelved it.
       | 
       | Clearly I was wrong and clearly why you should talk to more
       | potential customers before you make decisions. Congrats to
       | Netlify and FeaturePeek.
        
         | mynegation wrote:
         | Given that this is an acquisition of a 2yo startup by a hosting
         | platform company, looks like you were right on the money.
        
         | pistoriusp wrote:
         | To be fair to yourself this is probably a lot more than a
         | year's work, but also... just because it exists doesn't mean
         | that another shouldn't version shouldn't exist either!
        
       | pistoriusp wrote:
       | This is awesome! I love that everyone can now give feedback.
       | Developers, designers, people who write copy, etc.
       | 
       | And that the feedback is piped into a single source of truth:
       | GitHub (of course, if you use GitHub). It's so easy to loose
       | track of these things when they're not near the code.
        
       | at-fates-hands wrote:
       | _Collaborative Deploy Previews are fully enabled on every Netlify
       | account today! Anyone with a Netlify account can use the reviewer
       | tool._
       | 
       | This is why I love Netlify.
       | 
       | They put together an incredibly powerful tool, and then released
       | it to ALL of their customers. No, not a "Hey, we created this
       | really cool tool! And for only an extra $3.99/mo you can utilize
       | it!" I have several accounts, both free and paid and all of them
       | have the Deploy Preview feature available.
       | 
       | There's so many things Netlify could've monetized and they
       | haven't. They truly are a customer centric company - which is
       | rare these days.
        
       | kennyIO wrote:
       | I can think of 101 ways this can help large teams become more
       | productive
        
       | ccheney wrote:
       | For preview URLs how are y'all handling SSO? No SSO provider
       | supports wildcard redirect URIs. Looking for ideas...
        
         | fishtoaster wrote:
         | Auth0 does, thankfully! I set my redirect uri to
         | `https://deploy-preview-*--my-cool-netlify-app-
         | staging.netlif...` just the other day. :)
         | 
         | They have a few rather specific rules about it, but it works
         | for deploy previews anyway:
         | https://auth0.com/docs/applications/wildcards-for-subdomains
        
           | nrmitchi wrote:
           | Auth0 does, but IIRC it does not support multiple or not-last
           | wildcards. Ie "app.*.preview.<domain>" does not work.
           | 
           | If your application itself has subdomains, Auth0 doesn't
           | solve this easily
        
       | tin7in wrote:
       | This replaces a multi-step manual process that we've been doing
       | in our team. Well done!
        
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       (page generated 2021-05-19 23:01 UTC)