> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://developer.upsun.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# How the Platform.sh PaaS removes developer overhead

> Platform.sh is a PaaS designed to bring continuous delivery to Drupal. Explore its features and CLI for agile Drupal development.

export const PostMeta = ({data = {}}) => {
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    const github = entry.github || null;
    const linkedin = entry.linkedin || null;
    const url = github ? `https://github.com/${github}` : linkedin || null;
    const avatarUrl = github ? `https://github.com/${github}.png?size=64` : null;
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      name,
      url,
      avatarUrl
    };
  };
  const formattedDate = date ? new Date(date).toLocaleDateString('en-US', {
    year: 'numeric',
    month: 'long',
    day: 'numeric'
  }) : null;
  if (!image && authors.length === 0 && !formattedDate) return null;
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      "name": "Aaron Collier"
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    "aaron-dudenhofer": {
      "name": "Aaron Dudenhofer"
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    "aaron-porter": {
      "name": "Aaron Porter"
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    "adriaan-odendaal": {
      "name": "Adriaan Odendaal"
    },
    "ajmal": {
      "name": "Ajmal Siddiqui"
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      "name": "Antonis Kalipetis"
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    "alexander-varwijk": {
      "name": "Alexander Varwijk"
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      "name": "Amelie Deguerry"
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      "name": "Ana Cidre",
      "linkedin": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/ana-cidre"
    },
    "andoni": {
      "name": "Andoni Auzmendi"
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      "name": "Andrei (Alex) Taranu",
      "linkedin": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrei-alex-taranu/"
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    "antoine-crochet-damais": {
      "name": "Antoine Crochet Damais"
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    "augustin-delaporte": {
      "name": "Augustin Delaporte",
      "linkedin": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/augustindelaporte/"
    },
    "branislav-bujisic": {
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    "dan-morrison": {
      "name": "Dan Morrison"
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    "davidbonachera": {
      "name": "David Bonachera",
      "github": "davidbonachera",
      "linkedin": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidbonachera"
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    "dereliahmet1": {
      "name": "Ahmet Faruk Dereli"
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    "devicezero": {
      "name": "Jonas Kröger",
      "github": "devicezero",
      "linkedin": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonaskroeger/"
    },
    "doug-goldberg": {
      "name": "Doug Goldberg"
    },
    "duncan-naves": {
      "name": "Duncan Naves",
      "github": "duncannaves",
      "linkedin": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/duncan-naves-a94423aa"
    },
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      "name": "Erika Bustamante"
    },
    "fabpot": {
      "name": "Fabien Potencier"
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      "name": "Florent Huck",
      "github": "flovntp",
      "linkedin": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/florenthuck"
    },
    "fred-plais": {
      "name": "Fred Plais"
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    "gauthier-garnier": {
      "name": "Gauthier Garnier"
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    "gilzow": {
      "name": "Paul Gilzow"
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    "gmoigneu": {
      "name": "Guillaume Moigneu",
      "github": "gmoigneu",
      "linkedin": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/guillaumemoigneu/"
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    "gregqualls": {
      "name": "Greg Qualls"
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    "guguss": {
      "name": "Augustin Delaporte"
    },
    "haylee-millar": {
      "name": "Haylee Millar"
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    "ivana-kotur": {
      "name": "Ivana Kotur"
    },
    "jackrabbithanna": {
      "name": "Mark Hanna"
    },
    "jared-wright": {
      "name": "Jared Wright",
      "github": "jww-sh",
      "linkedin": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaredwaynewright"
    },
    "jessica-orozco": {
      "name": "Jessica Orozco"
    },
    "joey-stanford": {
      "name": "Joey Stanford"
    },
    "john-grubb": {
      "name": "John Grubb"
    },
    "jonas-kruger": {
      "name": "Jonas Kruger"
    },
    "kathryn-frazer": {
      "name": "Kathryn Frazer"
    },
    "kemiojo": {
      "name": "Kemi Elizabeth Ojogbede"
    },
    "kieronsambrook-smith": {
      "name": "Kieronsambrook Smith"
    },
    "laurent-arnoud": {
      "name": "Laurent Arnoud",
      "linkedin": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurent-arnoud-861b44121/"
    },
    "letoya-boyne": {
      "name": "Letoya Boyne"
    },
    "lolautruche": {
      "name": "Jérôme Vieilledent"
    },
    "lyly-lepinay": {
      "name": "Lyly Lepinay"
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    "manauwar-alam": {
      "name": "Manauwar Alam"
    },
    "marc-antoine-porri": {
      "name": "Marc Antoine Porri"
    },
    "maria-antinkaapo": {
      "name": "Maria Antinkaapo"
    },
    "maria-de-anton": {
      "name": "Maria De Anton"
    },
    "mark-dorison": {
      "name": "Mark Dorison"
    },
    "markus-hausammann": {
      "name": "Markus Hausammann"
    },
    "mary-thomas": {
      "name": "Mary Thomas"
    },
    "mathias-bolt-lesniak": {
      "name": "Mathias Bolt Lesniak"
    },
    "mathieu-strauch": {
      "name": "Mathieu Strauch"
    },
    "matthias-van-woensel": {
      "name": "Matthias Van Woensel",
      "linkedin": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthias-van-woensel-267a069"
    },
    "michael-sharp": {
      "name": "Michael Sharp"
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    "mupsi": {
      "name": "Marine Gandy"
    },
    "natalie-harper": {
      "name": "Natalie Harper"
    },
    "ngommenginger": {
      "name": "Nicolas Gommenginger",
      "linkedin": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolas-gommenginger"
    },
    "nicholas-bennison": {
      "name": "Nicholas Bennison"
    },
    "nicholas-vahalik": {
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    "nick-hardiman": {
      "name": "Nick Hardiman"
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      "github": "nicolas-grekas",
      "linkedin": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolasgrekas/"
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    "niti-malwade": {
      "name": "Niti Malwade"
    },
    "opensocialteam": {
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    },
    "ori-pekelman": {
      "name": "Ori Pekelman"
    },
    "otavio-santana": {
      "name": "Otavio Santana"
    },
    "palwandi": {
      "name": "Pawan Alwandi",
      "github": "pawpy",
      "linkedin": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/pawanalwandi"
    },
    "patrick-boest": {
      "name": "Patrick Boest"
    },
    "patrick-dawkins": {
      "name": "Patrick Dawkins",
      "github": "pjcdawkins",
      "linkedin": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrickdawkins"
    },
    "patrick-klima": {
      "name": "Patrick Klima"
    },
    "pjcdawkins": {
      "name": "Pjcdawkins"
    },
    "prineet-kaurbhurji": {
      "name": "Prineet Kaurbhurji"
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    "quentin-sinig": {
      "name": "Quentin Sinig"
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    "ralt": {
      "name": "Florian Margaine",
      "github": "ralt",
      "linkedin": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/florian-margaine-43971136"
    },
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      "name": "Ramanathanramakrishnamurthy"
    },
    "remi-lejeune": {
      "name": "Rémi Lejeune"
    },
    "ribel": {
      "name": "Taras Kruts"
    },
    "robert-douglass": {
      "name": "Robert Douglass"
    },
    "rudy-weber": {
      "name": "Rudy Weber"
    },
    "ryan-hicks": {
      "name": "Ryan Hicks"
    },
    "sabri-helal": {
      "name": "Sabri Helal"
    },
    "savannah-bergeron": {
      "name": "Savannah Bergeron"
    },
    "shannon-vettes": {
      "name": "Shannon Vettes"
    },
    "shawn-ogasawara": {
      "name": "Shawn Ogasawara",
      "linkedin": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawn-ogasawara-83a9a0/"
    },
    "shawna-spoor": {
      "name": "Shawna Spoor"
    },
    "shedrack-akintayo": {
      "name": "Shedrack Akintayo"
    },
    "simon-ruggier": {
      "name": "Simon Ruggier"
    },
    "sophie-van-der-kindere": {
      "name": "Sophie Van Der Kindere"
    },
    "stefanos-thampis": {
      "name": "Stefanos Thampis"
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    "stephen-weinberg": {
      "name": "Stephen Weinberg"
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    "sukhman-virk": {
      "name": "Sukhman Virk"
    },
    "sumaira-nazir": {
      "name": "Sumaira Nazir"
    },
    "sumer": {
      "name": "Sümer Cip"
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      "name": "Syed Raza"
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    "tamara-bacchia": {
      "name": "Tamara Bacchia"
    },
    "tara-arnold": {
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    "theosakamg": {
      "name": "Mickael Gaillard",
      "github": "theosakamg"
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    "thomasdiluccio": {
      "name": "Thomas di Luccio"
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      "name": "Tim Anderson"
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    "tom-helmer-hansen": {
      "name": "Tom Helmer Hansen"
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    "tylermills": {
      "name": "Tyler Mills"
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    "upsun": {
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      "linkedin": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/veronika-tolkachova-169167a2"
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      "name": "Vince Parker"
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      "github": "vrobert78",
      "linkedin": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/vincent-robert-498a883"
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    "yuriy-babenko": {
      "name": "Yuriy Babenko"
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    "yuriy-gerasimov": {
      "name": "Yuriy Gerasimov"
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  };
  return <div className="post-meta">
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              {authors.map(slug => {
    const {name, url, avatarUrl} = resolveAuthor(slug);
    const inner = <>
                    {avatarUrl && <img src={avatarUrl} alt={name} className="post-meta-avatar" />}
                    <span className="post-meta-author-name">{name}</span>
                  </>;
    return url ? <a key={slug} href={url} target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" className="post-meta-author">
                    {inner}
                  </a> : <span key={slug} className="post-meta-author">{inner}</span>;
  })}
            </div>}
          {authors.length > 0 && formattedDate && <span className="post-meta-separator" aria-hidden="true">·</span>}
          {formattedDate && <span className="post-meta-date">{formattedDate}</span>}
        </div>}
      {image && <img src={image} alt="" className="post-meta-image" aria-hidden="true" />}
    </div>;
};

<PostMeta data={{ author: ["nick-hardiman"], date: "2014-07-31", image: "/images/posts/devcenter.webp" }} />

<Tip>
  This post was originally published on the Platform.sh blog and reflects information from the time of publication.
</Tip>

<img src="https://mintcdn.com/upsun-c9761871/GmjO2Q50fc4SCexK/images/posts/unknown/platform-removes-developer-overhead/platform-screenshot.webp?fit=max&auto=format&n=GmjO2Q50fc4SCexK&q=85&s=155a7526597c422c4cc2e763f351c764" alt="Platform UI" width="620" height="298" data-path="images/posts/unknown/platform-removes-developer-overhead/platform-screenshot.webp" />

Platform.sh is a new Platform as a Service (PaaS) from Commerce Guys, a software company with offices in London, Paris, and Michigan. Platform.sh’s purpose is to bring continuous delivery to the open source CMS Drupal.

Commerce Guys launched Drupal Commerce in 2011; Drupal Commerce is a mass of modules to enable e-commerce in Drupal. Now Commerce Guys have built a PaaS to help developers working with Drupal Commerce. If you look hard, you can see a few Platform.sh site actions, like OAuth login and SSH key install, flick past the Commerce Guys site site.

Like all [PaaS](https://upsun.com/product/) vendors, the Platform.sh team takes care of capacity, resilience, security, and all the rest of that operational malarkey for the developer. Platform.sh is new, and it’s not even out of the beta test phase yet. Commerce Guys recently received buckets of cash to roll out its new Platform.sh service, but is it ready for prime time? And if so, who will feel more at home here than with other PaaS offerings?

## Launch, branch, clone, merge

The first developmental stop on Platform.sh is to use the web UI to launch a new project. The launch initializes a new technical environment for a team to work in. Since Platform.sh users are agile teams, they get ready for a sprint like this:

1. Launch a new project.
2. Create a master Drupal site for end users.
3. Invite team members to sign in.
4. Create branches for the team to work on.

Team members have different roles. A member may be a scrum master with the power to merge branches, a developer who makes code changes, or an external company with read-access only.

Platform.sh’s environment branches are like source code branches. The live site is copied into a hierarchy the same way a source code control system branches code.

1. The master environment is branched to create a QA environment.
2. QA is branched to create sprints.
3. A sprint is branched into stories.

The team ends up with a hierarchy of site copies for developers to work on. Code, databases, search engine indexes, and other software can be shifted around in this hierarchy: branches are synchronized, projects are checked out, and environments are backed up.

## Test sites

<img src="https://mintcdn.com/upsun-c9761871/GmjO2Q50fc4SCexK/images/posts/unknown/platform-removes-developer-overhead/website-install-complete.webp?fit=max&auto=format&n=GmjO2Q50fc4SCexK&q=85&s=6626d2552a00f0b004808db50b747bd2" alt="Completed Drupal installation" width="620" height="385" data-path="images/posts/unknown/platform-removes-developer-overhead/website-install-complete.webp" />

Each branch has its own public URL so changes can be viewed and tested. The master site has a URL along the lines of [http://master-was5o4df4vg6o.eu.platform.sh/](http://master-was5o4df4vg6o.eu.platform.sh/) and a story site [http://story1-was5o4df4vg6o.eu.platform.sh/](http://story1-was5o4df4vg6o.eu.platform.sh/). This allows each developer to check their work as they progress.

## The Platform.sh CLI

Platform.sh expects developers to use a Command Line Interface (CLI) for detailed work. A CLI tool called platform provides a domain-specific set of commands to speed up the developer’s work.

```bash theme={null}
$ platform
Welcome to Commerce Platform!

```

Platform.sh expects the developer to have these specialist files and PHP helper applications already installed:

* Drush (Drupal shell), another CLI popular with Drupal developers;
* SSH keys, the de facto standard for authenticating to cloud machines; and
* Composer, a packager that makes PHP dependency installs easier. The platform-cli application is PHP code wrapped in a Composer package.

The platform CLI provide lots of little shortcuts to speed up work. If a developer types in this command, he can check out code to a local project folder:

```bash theme={null}
platform get was5o4df4vg6o

```

If a developer types this command within a project folder, he is logged in to the corresponding remote environment:

```bash theme={null}
platform drush ssh

```

It’s easier than typing this:

```
ssh -o PasswordAuthentication=no -t was5o4df4vg6o-story1@ssh.eu.platform.sh bash

```

As all lovers of auto-complete know, less is more when it comes to typing.

## Platform.sh is for agile Drupal teams

Developers have been checking out code, building with make-files, and merging changes since the dawn of the Model M keyboard, but that does not mean all developers would be at home with Platform.sh. This PaaS is aimed at the modern breed of developer, used to cloud services, git pulls, and week-long sprints.

Platform.sh is not all things to all developers – it is aimed at professional Drupal developers, who work in teams and are comfortable with agile methods of development. Those are the people who will save time using this PaaS.