Supercharged Ops Tooling: Automation API makes Infrastructure as Code a SDK

Pulumi Automation API uncovers the full power of infrastructure as code through a programmatic interface instead of through CLI commands. The Automation API allows you to embed Pulumi within your application code, making it easy to create custom experiences on top of Pulumi tailored to your use case, domain, and team.

With Automation API, you can:

1. Create software that can provision and configure infrastructure: create, update, configure, and destroy infrastructure dynamically.
2. Create new classes of Software-as-a-Service (#SaaS ) that provision unique infrastructure for every customer.
3. Build the perfect #cloud interface for your team, combining your infrastructure knowledge and best practices into a purpose-built tool.

But you may ask, "What exactly is Pulumi Automation API?", "Why use it?", "What leverage would you, your team, and your organization potentially get by using it?"

Exploring Automation API Under the Hood

Evan Boyle and Casey Huang answered the previous questions in "Automation API Under the Hood" during #CloudEngineering Days 2022.

They explained what is Pulumi Automation API, gave a guided tour, and highlighted the benefits and ways it is used, including in the recently launched Pulumi Deployments, a groundbreaking advancement in Deployment-as-a-Service .

Automation API in Action

The community and Pulumi customers are applying the Automation API to an incredible breadth of different scenarios. We continue to be amazed by the creativity it unlocks as a new fundamental building block for cloud engineering.

For example, it powers custom infrastructure platforms—like?Mercedes-Benz Research & Development’s platform —that empower teams across the organization to stand up the infrastructure they need in the cloud when they need it.?

But there are so many more examples. Here are a few of the Automation API in action:

• How Elkj?p Nordic enables self-service infrastructure for developers : Tomas Jansson developed a self-service infrastructure platform that would enable developers to quickly provision cloud infrastructure that uses approved resources and security practices. Watch his presentation and demo .

“Using Pulumi, we are building a self-service platform that enables developers to easily provision new environments in #Azure and #Kubernetes . In particular, Pulumi’s Automation API made it possible for us to flexibly automate provisioning so that Elkj?p can maintain control while giving developers full freedom within their provisioned environments," Tomas Jansson Principal Software Engineer at Elkj?p Nordic

• Observable Infrastructure as Code : Pulumi community member? ?? Kay Pl??er ?spent some time digging into setting up observability of a Pulumi deployment using #Honeycomb .?
• How Pulumi Automation API Improves on Cloud SDKs : Data scientists can leverage the power of the Automation API. sophia parafina explains how it improves on raw #SDKs by providing high-level #abstractions for creating and managing cloud services, letting data scientists concentrate on analyses and models without being well-versed in cloud APIs.
• Supercharging our GitHub Action with the Automation API : ? Simen A.W. Olsen ,?Chief Executive Director at Bjerk, joins Paul Stack to discuss the GitHub Action powered by the Pulumi #Automation #API .

Automate All the Things

Cloud engineering will automate many tasks that are currently performed by operators. Using #InfrastructureAsCode and SDKs such as Automation API, you can build self-service tools that improve the inner dev loop for application developers and let operators perform higher-level tasks such as maintenance and infrastructure monitoring.

Automation API is just one part of Pulumi's Infrastructure as Code Platform. #Pulumi enables you to harness the modern cloud and focus your time on being creative and innovative. Happy automating!

?? Get started with the Automation API User Guide ?