Fileset

Fileset is a light, high-performance TypeScript static web server intended for high-traffic static sites. Features include:

• Atomic deployments
• (To be implemented) Scheduled deployments
• Redirects
• Localization-aware redirects
• Isolated per-branch staging environments backed by Google Account authentication
• Ultra-fast TTFB and payload transfer speeds
• A simple web UI for inspecting uploaded files

The server runs on Google App Engine and proxies requests to Google Cloud Storage.

Concept

Many websites can be built and deployed as fully static content (i.e. just HTML, CSS, and JavaScript – with no dynamic backend). Despite being static content, websites may still have other requirements such as localization, redirects, or atomic deployments that end up adding slight dynamic functionality to an otherwise fully static project.

Fileset aims to bridge the gap by offering a thin middle layer on top of Google Cloud Storage: static files are uploaded to Google Cloud Storage via the CLI, with the Fileset server handling request traffic. The server determines whether to issue a response sprinkled with one of the above dynamic features, and otherwise proxies traffic directly to Google Cloud Storage – leveraging Google's global network for performance.

Table of contents

• Concept
• Usage
  • Server setup
  • Upload files
• Uploader authentication
  • Local testing (authenticate using user account)
  • Continuous deployment (authenticate using service account)
• Environments
• Testing
  • Response headers
  • Query parameters
• Tips
  • Usage within Makefile
  • Usage with Amagaki
  • Usage with Grow.dev

Usage

There are two main tasks required in order to use Fileset:

1. First, you'll need to deploy the server. This only needs to be done once, when the project is originally set up.
2. Second, you'll need to upload files to be served. Files must be uploaded each time you want to serve new files, update redirects, etc.

Server setup

1. Within your project, create a directory to house the server configuration, e.g. ./backend/server.

2. Copy the files from ./example/server/ into this directory.

3. Modify the settings in app.yaml and secrets.yaml.

4. Setup and deploy the app using the provided Makefile. The app will be deployed to an App Engine service named fileset, so it will not conflict with your current deployment.

make project=<AppId> setup
make project=<AppId> deploy

Upload files

1. Create a fileset.yaml configuration file. The minimum example is below. See the example fileset.yaml for full configuration options.

google_cloud_project: <AppId>

2. Generate your files. Use a static site generator or just manually create a directory containing files to upload. In step (3) below, the files in the directory ./build are uploaded.

3. Upload your files. The uploader will look for fileset.yaml within the specified directory first. If it's not found, it will look up in the parent folder. If the config file doesn't exist in either folder, the uploader will abort.

npx fileset upload ./build

That's it! Files have been uploaded to Google Cloud Storage and the uploaded directory is now being served by the application server. You can verify by visiting:

https://fileset-dot-<AppId>.appspot.com

Uploader authentication

You'll need to be authenticated to upload files and deploy the serving manifests.

Local testing (authenticate using user account)

If you are testing locally, your user account can be used to authenticate to Cloud Datastore and Cloud Storage. Simply run the below command to create credentials used for authentication:

gcloud auth application-default login

Continuous deployment (authenticate using service account)

If you are using a service account for deployment, you'll need to ensure it has the right permissions. When using Fileset with Google Cloud Build, simply run make setup from the example/server directory to configure your project's Cloud Build Service account with the right permissions.

The following permissions are needed:

• Cloud Datastore (manifests are stored here): Cloud Datastore Owner (datastore.owner)
• Cloud Storage (files are uploaded here): Storage Object Admin (storage.objectAdmin)

If using the Cloud Build service account (or any other service account), you'll need to add the above two permissions to the account. That can be done via the IAM page (https://console.cloud.google.com/access/iam?project=<AppId>) or via the gcloud CLI.

The provided Makefile also sets up Google Cloud Build permissions for you.

make project=<AppId> setup

Environments

Fileset uses Git branches to determine whether files should be in production (and public) or in staging (and restricted via Google Account authentication). The Git branch is determined by inspecting the local Git environment when the upload command is invoked.

The best way to understand how this works is by following the examples below:

# main branch
# ✓ public
# ✓ production URL
# ✓ also available from staging URLs (restricted)

(main) $ npx fileset upload build
...
Public URL:            https://appid.appspot.com
URL (via commit):      https://f3a9abb-dot-fileset-dot-appid.appspot.com
URL (via branch name): https://master-dot-fileset-dot-appid.appspot.com

# staging branch
# ✓ not public
# ✓ staging URL only (restricted)

(staging) $ npx fileset upload build
...
URL (via commit):      https://4fb48ce-dot-fileset-dot-appid.appspot.com
URL (via branch name): https://staging-dot-fileset-dot-appid.appspot.com

Testing

Response headers

You can verify Fileset server is working as you expect by looking for the following headers:

Header	Description
x‑fileset‑site	The site being served. Usually this will be default but for multi-site installations, this will be useful for determining which site is serving.
x‑fileset‑ref	The Git commit sha that corresponds to the serving manifest that is handling your request.
x‑fileset‑blob	The blob directory key corresponding to the file being served. This is the SHA-1 hash of the file's content.
x‑fileset‑ttl	For scheduled deployments, the value of this header will correspond to the timestamp for the timed deployment being served.

Query parameters

You can simulate geolocation behavior using query parameters:

Parameter	Name	Description
hl	Language	Overrides the incoming accept-language header.
gl	Geolocation	Overrides the incoming x-appengine-country header.
ncr	No country redirect	Disables localization-aware redirects.

Tips

Usage within Makefile

The absolute path to the fileset executable can be specified to invoke the CLI.

./node_modules/.bin/fileset upload build

Usage with Amagaki

First, build the site to the ./build directory. Then, upload the directory to Fileset.

npx @blinkk/amagaki build
npx @blinkk/fileset upload build

Usage with Grow.dev

First, build the site to the ./build directory. Then, upload the directory to Fileset.

grow build --deployment=prod
npx @blinkk/fileset upload build