Cloud Mastery: Pawa-ring AI-Powered Apps¶

Session Overview¶

This session focuses on setting up the core, secure infrastructure for an AI-powered e-commerce application. You will connect a NestJS backend to a Cloud SQL (MySQL) database, establish robust CI/CD pipelines using Workload Identity Federation and GitHub Actions for deployment to Cloud Run, and set up a foundation for data replication to BigQuery for advanced AI/ML analytics with Vertex AI.

What You'll Learn¶

Connect a NestJS backend to a Cloud SQL (MySQL) database
Build the core AI API routes
Establish separate and secure CI/CD pipelines using GitHub Actions and Workload Identity Federation
Deploy containerised applications to Cloud Run
Replicate data to BigQuery for analytics and AI/ML

Core Technologies¶

Category	Technology
IDE	VS Code or Antigravity IDE
Backend	NestJS (Node.js Framework)
Frontend	Next.js
Database	Cloud SQL for MySQL
Data Warehouse	BigQuery
AI/ML	Vertex AI — Gemini Models, Agent Builder, BigQuery ML
Deployment	Cloud Run with GitHub Actions & Workload Identity Federation

Resources Already Allocated for You¶

Your Google Workspace email and password have been shared with you at the email address you registered with for this event. These credentials give you access to a dedicated GCP project named after you.

Open the Google Cloud Console: https://console.cloud.google.com
Sign in with the designated email shared with you. On successful login you will see a project with your name on it.
Confirm you can access your Google Cloud project. The project will be named according to your name — for example, eddie-ngugi-3a56.

Navigate to https://github.com and select the Sign in with Google option if your account is linked to your Google account.
Select your work or personal email (e.g., eddie@training.cloudpartner.africa).
Click Continue to authorise GitHub to access your basic profile information.

Step 3: Set Up the gcloud CLI¶

The gcloud CLI lets you run GCP commands from your local machine. If you haven't installed it yet, follow the official guide: https://docs.cloud.google.com/sdk/docs/install-sdk

3.1 — Run gcloud init¶

Once installed, run the following command in your terminal or command prompt:

gcloud init

A browser window will open. Sign in with the Google account you were given and click Allow.

gcloud init running

3.2 — Set the Default Zone¶

When prompted to set a default zone, enter 1 to select "Do not set default zone".

Select default zone — enter 1

3.3 — Set the Default Region¶

When prompted for a default region, enter 36 to select us-central1.

Select default region — enter 36

Essential gcloud Commands¶

Once logged in, these are the core commands you will use throughout the lab:

Command	What it does
`gcloud auth login`	Forces a new browser login — useful if your session expires or you need to switch accounts
`gcloud projects list`	Shows all cloud projects attached to your account
`gcloud config set project [PROJECT_ID]`	Switches your active terminal session to a different project
`gcloud info`	Displays your current environment details, active account, and current project

Tip

Add --help to the end of any command (e.g., gcloud projects --help) to get the built-in manual for that command.

What's Next¶

You are now logged in to GCP and GitHub with your gcloud CLI initialised. In the next section you will create and configure the Cloud SQL database.

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DevOps Lab

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