what — in the competitive landscape of environment-as-a-service platforms, cohesive emerges as a standout with its unique capability to let developers swiftly create environments for each git commit. amidst peers like heroku and netlify, cohesive simplifies devops with accessible web, cli, and ide plugins, targeting agile teams for faster prototyping and bug detection. distinct features like automatic branch deployment and shareable urls for feedback distinguish it in a market filled with contenders, all aiming to optimise the software development process.

poc — we experimented with a new web interface revolutionising developer interaction with github repositories, enabling direct import and environment creation from repos. designed to streamline workflows, it features auto-deployments for each git commit and policies for managing ephemeral environments based on branch activities. the interface offers choices between ephemeral or permanent, and private or public environments, supporting unlimited environment creation and diverse project configurations. it enhances user experience with deployment logs, easy resource connections like mysql, postgres, and redis, and fosters collaboration through secure secret uploads, team invitations, and shareable environment links, making the development process more efficient and user-friendly.

v1 — we launched a comprehensive web platform that simplifies the signup process with options like google, github, gitlab, bitbucket, or manual entry. once signed up, users enter details, set up or join an organisation, and initiate processes like vpn server creation. the platform features git integration with auto-detection of languages and frameworks, an accounts page for key management, and a settings page for setting environment policies and limits. it also provides a statistics page for insights into environment and credit usage. users can directly create environments from the web, manage deployments, and toggle between private or public settings, all contributing to a more streamlined and insightful development experience.

config — within engineering, many micro-services are constructed using similar technologies and conventions, leading to standardisation in their build and deployment processes. recognising this pattern, we're introducing a feature in cohesive that allows the duplication of deployment configurations across projects. this new capability streamlines the setup process for new micro-services by enabling teams to replicate configurations from one project to another, significantly saving time and effort. it simplifies the workflow, especially in environments where multiple projects share similar architecture, ensuring faster deployment and enhanced productivity.

cmd+k — within engineering, many micro-services are constructed using similar technologies and conventions, leading to standardisation in their build and deployment processes. recognising this pattern, we introduced a feature that allows the duplication of deployment configurations across projects. this new capability streamlines the setup process for new micro-services by enabling teams to replicate configurations from one project to another, significantly saving time and effort. it simplifies the workflow, especially in environments where multiple projects share similar architecture, ensuring faster deployment and enhanced productivity.

build your own cloud — we evaluated the pros and cons of managed and byoc models. managed services offer cost savings, quick onboarding, full feature control, and lower management needs, but raise trust and security concerns, and limit the use of existing cloud credits. byoc caters to a broader audience with credit utilisation and individual risk limitation, yet demands more sales efforts, could increase costs, and adds operational complexities. our experience shows that while security is a concern, it's not always a deal-breaker with proper certifications. byoc, more suitable for larger firms, doesn't fully address security issues and could introduce new risks. we believe that demonstrating our product's value can alleviate most security worries. at this stage, focusing on a seamless user experience and product efficacy is key, rather than prioritising byoc, which might not be essential for all. cohesive thus offers both fully managed and self-hosted options, balancing infrastructure management and data control according to customer needs.

stack — our stacks feature enables developers to swiftly set up and manage complex micro-services architectures, providing isolated environments for each git commit and shareable links for collaboration. it simplifies deployment by auto-configuring and launching interconnected services, saving time over traditional staging. suitable for both simple apps and complex systems, stacks offer flexibility for efficient testing of new features without disrupting the entire system, accelerating delivery and boosting productivity.