How do you use Heroku pipelines and review apps to streamline your web app development workflow?

1 What are Heroku pipelines and review apps?

Heroku pipelines are a way of organizing your web app into different stages, such as development, staging, and production. Each stage represents a different version of your app that you can deploy and manage separately. Review apps are temporary apps that are automatically created from pull requests in your GitHub repository. They let you preview and test your code changes before merging them to your main branch.

2 How to create a Heroku pipeline

To create a Heroku pipeline, you need to have a GitHub account and a Heroku account, as well as a web app hosted on GitHub and deployed to Heroku. Begin by logging in to your Heroku dashboard and clicking on the New button at the top right corner. Select Create new pipeline and give it a name and a GitHub repository. After clicking on Create pipeline, you'll see your pipeline with an empty development stage. To add your existing app to the development stage, click on the + button and select your app from the list. To add a staging and production stage, repeat the same process, clicking on the + button and selecting New app, giving it a name and clicking on Create app.

3 How to enable review apps

To enable review apps, you need to have a Heroku pipeline and a GitHub repository that are connected, as well as a file called app.json in the root directory of your repository. This file defines the configuration and dependencies of your app. To enable review apps, go to your Heroku dashboard and click on your pipeline name. Then, click on the Review tab and toggle the Enable Review Apps button. You can choose whether you want to create review apps for all pull requests or only for those with a specific label. Finally, click on Save settings and you'll see your review apps being created and destroyed as you open and close pull requests.

4 How to use review apps

Review apps are a great way to test and review code changes before deploying them to your main app. To access a review app, simply click on its name in the Review tab of your pipeline. This will provide you with the app's URL and a button to open it in a new tab. You can use the same tools and methods for testing a review app as you would for your main app, such as browser dev tools, testing frameworks, and APIs. To review a review app, you can leave comments and feedback on the pull request in GitHub, or use the Heroku dashboard to view the app's logs, metrics, and settings. Finally, to deploy a review app, you can merge the pull request in GitHub, which will trigger a deployment to the next stage of your pipeline, such as staging or production.

5 How to manage your pipeline

Your Heroku pipeline provides a straightforward way to manage your web app across different stages and versions. To deploy your app from one stage to another, you can use the Promote button in the pipeline view. This will copy the same code and configuration to the target stage without rebuilding the app. To rollback your app to a previous version, you can use the Activity tab in the app view. This will show you the history of your deployments and allow you to undo the last one. Additionally, the Metrics tab in the app view can be used to monitor your app's performance and health, displaying key indicators such as response time, throughput, and errors. Lastly, the Settings tab in the app view can be used to configure your app's settings and add-ons, allowing you to change your app's name, domain, region, and more.