What's this new Azure SWAG thing?
Earlier during Build 2020 keynote, the new Azure Static Web Apps service has just been unveiled. And it works with GitHub repositories. So for short, Azure SWAG 😎. But what is it about?
Short version
It's an all-inclusive hosting service for web apps with serverless APIs built using JavaScript, based on continuous deployment from a GitHub repository.
Boom.
Slightly longer version
With a quick one-time setup you can deploy any web app, be it a SPA or a static website:
- Using React, Vue, Angular, or Svelte? You're covered ✅.
- Using Gatsby.js, Vuepress, Hugo, Jekyll or static website generator? You're covered too ✅.
- Want to go further and do SSR? Works too ✅.
If you need to crunch some data, you also get a serverless API alongside your web app, based on Functions. You put your API code on the same repo as your web app, and it will be deployed at the same way with no extra efforts.
Oh, and did I mention that it also comes with a built-in Identity manager service? You can add authentication with differents roles for your users at the hand of a JSON configuration file.
I'm really excited about this new service because my previous web development experience with Azure was far from smooth sailing... Let's be completely honest here: it felt way over-complicated for a developer just wanting to deploy a web app with an API.
With this new Static Web Apps all-in-one solution, it's kind of a relief and feels to me like a welcome gift for us web developer. And by gift, I really mean it as it comes with a Free tier 🎁.
Getting excited too? Let's see how it works!
Deploy your first SWAG (Static Web App on GitHub)
Rather than telling you more about it, let's experience it by yourself.
Prerequisites
- A GitHub account
- An Azure account (you can reuse your GitHub account to login)
4 steps to deploy from scratch
Once you're ready to go, follow these steps to deploy your first app.
Create a new repo using this template: https://github.com/sinedied/azure-swag
Click on this button to open the Azure portal:
-
Fill in the details (you have to sign in to your GitHub account for the last part):
Click on Review + create, then Create to complete the deployment.
Aaaand you're done. That's it! 😎
Wait a few seconds for everything to be set up, and click on Go to resource.
On your resource overview page, click on the Browse button to open your deployed web app.
The first build may take a minute or so, after a few refreshes you should see your positive thought for the day.
How does it work?
Now come back to your forked GitHub repo. Let's take a look at what you have here:
-
/: the root folder contains the web app. This one is a pure vanilla HTML/CSS/JavaScript website, it's been a long time since you saw one, right? -
api/: this folder contains the API, split in individual functions. Any endpoint declared here will be accessible by default underhttps://<your_deployment_url>/api/.
You can also notice that a GitHub Actions workflow has been created for you. It does 2 things:
- Deploy your app to production each time new changes are pushed to your
masterbranch. - Deploy a staging version of your app to a separate pre-production environment each time a new pull request is created against the
masterbranch.
You got all the basics here.
To dig further from there, you can go to the official docs and learn more about what you can do with SWAG.
Note that the service is currently in public preview, so there might still be some rough edges here and there. If you have feedback or issues, you can reach out here.
What are your thoughts about this new service?
Follow me on Twitter, I would be happy to discuss about it and take your suggestions!
Top comments (2)
Uhm... Isn't Azure a server? Doesn't it RUN on servers? That you pay to use?
"Serverless" is kind of a myth. It really means "a server someone else owns and maintains that I rent time and space on." Now, if MSFT made a server OS that was easy to set up, configure and maintain...
You're totally right, Serverless does not mean no servers, but actually less server management ;-)