# Dev-Prod Parity Analysis

## Current Differences Between Dev and Prod

### 1. **Replicas**
- **Dev**: 1 replica per service
- **Prod**: 2-3 replicas per service
- **Impact**: Multi-replica issues (race conditions, session handling, etc.) won't be caught in dev

### 2. **Resource Limits**
- **Dev**: Minimal (64Mi-256Mi RAM, 25m-200m CPU)
- **Prod**: Not explicitly set (uses defaults from base manifests)
- **Impact**: Resource exhaustion issues may appear only in prod

### 3. **Environment Variables**
- **Dev**: DEBUG=true, LOG_LEVEL=DEBUG, PROFILING_ENABLED=true
- **Prod**: DEBUG=false, LOG_LEVEL=INFO, PROFILING_ENABLED=false
- **Impact**: Different code paths, performance characteristics

### 4. **CORS Configuration**
- **Dev**: `*` (wildcard, accepts all origins)
- **Prod**: Specific domains only
- **Impact**: CORS issues won't be caught in dev

### 5. **SSL/TLS**
- **Dev**: HTTP only (ssl-redirect: false)
- **Prod**: HTTPS required (Let's Encrypt)
- **Impact**: SSL-related issues not tested in dev

### 6. **Image Pull Policy**
- **Dev**: `Never` (uses local images)
- **Prod**: Default (pulls from registry)
- **Impact**: Image versioning issues not caught in dev

### 7. **Storage Class**
- **Dev**: Uses default Kind storage
- **Prod**: Uses `microk8s-hostpath`
- **Impact**: Storage-related differences

### 8. **Rate Limiting**
- **Dev**: RATE_LIMIT_ENABLED=false
- **Prod**: RATE_LIMIT_ENABLED=true
- **Impact**: Rate limit logic not tested in dev

## Recommendations for Dev-Prod Parity

### ✅ What SHOULD Be Aligned

1. **Resource Limits Structure**
   - Keep dev limits lower, but use same structure
   - Use 50% of prod limits in dev
   - This catches resource issues early

2. **Critical Environment Variables**
   - Same security settings (password requirements, JWT config)
   - Same timeout values
   - Same business rules
   - Different: DEBUG, LOG_LEVEL (dev needs verbosity)

3. **Some Replicas for Critical Services**
   - Run 2 replicas of gateway, auth in dev
   - Catches load balancing and state management issues
   - Still saves resources vs prod

4. **CORS Configuration**
   - Use specific origins in dev (localhost, 127.0.0.1)
   - Catches CORS issues early

5. **Rate Limiting**
   - Enable in dev with higher limits
   - Tests the code path without being restrictive

### ⚠️ What SHOULD Stay Different

1. **Debug Settings**
   - Keep DEBUG=true in dev (needed for development)
   - Keep verbose logging (LOG_LEVEL=DEBUG)
   - Keep profiling enabled

2. **SSL/TLS**
   - Optional: Can enable self-signed certs in dev
   - But HTTP is simpler for local development

3. **Image Pull Policy**
   - Keep `Never` in dev (faster iteration)
   - Local builds are essential for dev workflow

4. **Replica Counts**
   - 1-2 in dev vs 2-3 in prod (balance between parity and resources)

5. **Monitoring**
   - Optional in dev to save resources
   - Essential in prod

## Proposed Changes for Better Dev-Prod Parity

### Option 1: Conservative (Recommended)
Minimal changes, maximum benefit:

1. **Increase critical service replicas to 2**
   - gateway: 1 → 2
   - auth-service: 1 → 2
   - Tests load balancing, keeps other services at 1

2. **Align resource limits structure**
   - Use same resource structure as prod
   - Set to 50% of prod values

3. **Fix CORS in dev**
   - Use specific origins instead of wildcard
   - Better matches prod behavior

4. **Enable rate limiting with high limits**
   - Tests the code path
   - Won't interfere with development

### Option 2: High Parity (More Resources Needed)
Maximum similarity, higher resource usage:

1. **Match prod replica counts**
   - Run 2 replicas of all services
   - Requires more RAM (12-16GB)

2. **Use production resource limits**
   - Helps catch OOM issues early
   - Requires powerful development machine

3. **Enable SSL in dev**
   - Use self-signed certs
   - Matches prod HTTPS behavior

4. **Enable all production features**
   - Monitoring, tracing, etc.

### Option 3: Hybrid (Best Balance)
Balance between parity and development speed:

1. **2 replicas for stateful/critical services**
   - gateway, auth, tenant, orders: 2 replicas
   - Others: 1 replica

2. **Resource limits at 60% of prod**
   - Catches issues without being restrictive

3. **Production-like configuration**
   - Same CORS policy (with dev domains)
   - Rate limiting enabled (higher limits)
   - Same security settings

4. **Keep dev-friendly features**
   - DEBUG=true
   - Verbose logging
   - Hot reload
   - HTTP (no SSL)

## Impact Analysis

### Resource Usage Comparison

**Current Dev Setup:**
- ~20 pods running
- ~2-3GB RAM
- ~1-2 CPU cores

**Option 1 (Conservative):**
- ~22 pods (2 extra replicas)
- ~3-4GB RAM (+30%)
- ~1.5-2.5 CPU cores

**Option 2 (High Parity):**
- ~40 pods (double)
- ~8-10GB RAM (+200%)
- ~4-5 CPU cores

**Option 3 (Hybrid):**
- ~28 pods
- ~5-6GB RAM (+100%)
- ~2-3 CPU cores

### Benefits of Increased Parity

1. **Catch Multi-Instance Issues**
   - Race conditions
   - Distributed locks
   - Session management
   - Load balancing problems

2. **Resource Issues Found Early**
   - Memory leaks
   - OOM errors
   - CPU bottlenecks

3. **Configuration Validation**
   - CORS issues
   - Rate limiting bugs
   - Security misconfigurations

4. **Deployment Confidence**
   - Fewer surprises in production
   - Better testing
   - Reduced rollbacks

### Tradeoffs

**Pros:**
- ✅ Catches more issues before production
- ✅ More realistic testing environment
- ✅ Better confidence in deployments
- ✅ Team learns production behavior

**Cons:**
- ❌ Higher resource requirements
- ❌ Slower startup times
- ❌ More complex troubleshooting
- ❌ Longer rebuild cycles

## Implementation Guide

If you want to proceed with **Option 1 (Conservative)**, I can:

1. Update dev kustomization to run 2 replicas of critical services
2. Add resource limits that mirror prod structure (at 50%)
3. Fix CORS to use specific origins
4. Enable rate limiting with dev-friendly limits
5. Create a "dev-high-parity" profile for those who want closer matching

Would you like me to implement these changes?