# 📊 Pipecheck - Project Summary

## What Is It?

**Pipecheck** is a command-line tool that validates CI/CD pipeline configurations locally, catching errors before you push to version control.

## The Problem It Solves

**Real-world scenario:**
1. Developer writes GitHub Actions workflow
2. Pushes to GitHub
3. Waits 5-10 minutes for CI to run
4. CI fails: "Circular dependency detected"
5. Developer fixes locally
6. Pushes again
7. Waits another 5-10 minutes...

**With Pipecheck:**
1. Developer writes workflow
2. Runs `pipecheck .github/workflows/ci.yml`
3. Gets instant feedback
4. Fixes immediately
5. Pushes with confidence

**Time saved:** Hours per week for active projects
**Money saved:** CI minutes cost money on most platforms

## Technical Details

- **Language:** Rust (for speed and reliability)
- **Lines of Code:** ~540
- **Dependencies:** Minimal (serde, clap, petgraph)
- **Platforms:** Linux, macOS, Windows (x64 & ARM)
- **Distribution:** npm and crates.io

## Features

✅ **Syntax Validation** - Parse YAML and validate structure
✅ **Circular Dependency Detection** - Find job dependency cycles
✅ **Secrets Auditing** - Identify secrets usage
✅ **Docker Validation** - Check image references
✅ **Multiple Formats** - Text and JSON output
✅ **CI Integration** - Use in pre-commit hooks or CI

## Supported Platforms

- GitHub Actions (.github/workflows/*.yml)
- GitLab CI (.gitlab-ci.yml)
- CircleCI (.circleci/config.yml)

## Architecture

```
pipecheck/
├── src/
│   ├── auditors/          # Validation logic
│   │   ├── dag.rs         # Circular dependency detection
│   │   ├── secrets.rs     # Secrets auditing
│   │   └── docker.rs      # Docker validation
│   ├── parsers/           # Platform-specific parsers
│   │   ├── github.rs      # GitHub Actions
│   │   ├── gitlab.rs      # GitLab CI
│   │   └── circleci.rs    # CircleCI
│   ├── models.rs          # Data structures
│   ├── error.rs           # Error handling
│   ├── lib.rs             # Public API
│   └── main.rs            # CLI
└── tests/fixtures/        # Test workflows
```

## Installation

```bash
# Via npm (JavaScript/TypeScript developers)
npm install -g pipecheck

# Via Cargo (Rust developers)
cargo install pipecheck
```

## Usage Examples

```bash
# Basic validation
pipecheck .github/workflows/ci.yml

# JSON output for CI integration
pipecheck .github/workflows/ci.yml --format json

# Strict mode (warnings as errors)
pipecheck .github/workflows/ci.yml --strict

# Skip Docker checks
pipecheck .github/workflows/ci.yml --no-docker
```

## Example Output

```
Provider: GitHubActions

1 errors, 0 warnings

❌ ERROR: Circular dependency detected: job-a -> job-c -> job-b
   💡 Remove one of the dependencies to break the cycle

ℹ️  INFO: Job 'build' uses secret: API_KEY
   💡 Ensure this secret is configured in repository settings
```

## Market Opportunity

**Target Users:**
- DevOps engineers
- Software developers using CI/CD
- Teams with complex workflows
- Organizations optimizing CI costs

**Market Size:**
- 100M+ developers worldwide
- Most use CI/CD in some form
- Growing trend toward GitOps and automation

**Competition:**
- actionlint (GitHub Actions only)
- gitlab-ci-lint (GitLab only, requires API)
- No unified tool for multiple platforms

**Differentiation:**
- Multi-platform support
- Offline validation
- Fast (Rust)
- Easy installation (npm)
- Zero configuration

## Business Model (Optional)

**Open Source Core (Current):**
- Free forever
- Community-driven
- Build reputation

**Potential Premium Features:**
- Enterprise support
- Custom auditors
- Team dashboards
- SaaS version with web UI
- GitHub App for automatic PR checks

## Success Metrics

**Short-term (3 months):**
- 100+ GitHub stars
- 1,000+ npm downloads
- 10+ contributors

**Medium-term (6 months):**
- 500+ GitHub stars
- 10,000+ npm downloads
- Featured in newsletters/blogs

**Long-term (1 year):**
- 1,000+ GitHub stars
- 50,000+ npm downloads
- Industry recognition

## Next Steps

1. ✅ Build the tool (DONE)
2. ✅ Create documentation (DONE)
3. ✅ Setup CI/CD (DONE)
4. 🔄 Create GitHub repository
5. 🔄 Publish to npm and crates.io
6. 🔄 Market and promote
7. 🔄 Gather feedback
8. 🔄 Iterate and improve

## Files Ready for Publishing

- ✅ Source code (src/)
- ✅ Tests (tests/)
- ✅ README.md
- ✅ CONTRIBUTING.md
- ✅ CHANGELOG.md
- ✅ LICENSE-MIT
- ✅ Cargo.toml (crates.io metadata)
- ✅ package.json (npm metadata)
- ✅ GitHub Actions workflows
- ✅ Publishing guides

## How to Publish

See `COMPLETE_GUIDE.md` for step-by-step instructions.

**TL;DR:**
1. Create GitHub repo
2. Add npm and crates.io tokens to GitHub secrets
3. Push code
4. Create tag: `git tag v0.1.0 && git push --tags`
5. GitHub Actions does the rest!

## Maintenance Plan

**Weekly:**
- Respond to issues
- Review PRs
- Monitor downloads

**Monthly:**
- Add new features
- Update dependencies
- Write blog posts

**Quarterly:**
- Major version releases
- Roadmap updates
- Community surveys

## Why This Will Succeed

1. **Solves real pain** - Everyone hates waiting for CI
2. **Easy to use** - One command, instant results
3. **Well-documented** - Clear README and guides
4. **Professional** - CI, tests, proper versioning
5. **Multi-platform** - Reaches more users
6. **Fast** - Rust performance
7. **Free** - No barriers to adoption

## Your Impact

By publishing this, you're:
- Saving developers hours of debugging time
- Reducing CI costs for companies
- Contributing to open source
- Building your portfolio
- Learning Rust, CI/CD, and publishing
- Potentially helping thousands of developers

---

**Ready to launch? Follow COMPLETE_GUIDE.md!** 🚀
