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Sandbox to Production

Everything you built in your Hosted Sandbox is production-portable. This guide walks you through graduating from a sandbox to your own cloud infrastructure, same configs, same structure, same deployment patterns.

Total time: 30-60 minutes with proper credentials

Codiac is built for platform teams who want Kubernetes to be repeatable and boring—so they can focus on architecture, security, and scale. Developers deploy with guided CLI commands or Web UI clicks. No YAML. No kubectl expertise required.

Prerequisites (Get These Ready First)​

Before you start, make sure you have:

CredentialWhy You Need It
Cloud provider admin accessCreate clusters, assign IPs, configure networking
Container registry credentialsPull images (ACR, ECR, Docker Hub, etc.)
DNS controlPoint subdomain to cluster ingress

With these ready, the migration goes smoothly without delays.

What You Built in the Sandbox​

Your sandbox already contains the core Codiac building blocks:

ComponentWhat it isWhat carries over
EnterpriseYour organizational containerName, structure, asset definitions
EnvironmentGrouping for cabinetsConfiguration hierarchy
CabinetIsolated runtime spaceAsset list, config values
AssetsDeployed servicesImage references, port configs, ingress rules
ConfigurationsEnvironment variables and settingsAll config key-value pairs

None of this is sandbox-specific. These are standard Codiac primitives that work identically on your own infrastructure.

Step 1: Set Up Your Cloud Account​

Connect your own Kubernetes clusters to Codiac. You'll need:

  • An AWS or Azure account with permissions to create Kubernetes clusters
  • The Codiac CLI installed (optional, but recommended for cluster operations)

Create a cluster​

codiac cluster create

Follow the prompts to select your cloud provider, region, node type, and cluster parameters. Codiac provisions the cluster, installs the agent, cert-manager, and ingress controller.

Or capture an existing cluster​

codiac cluster capture

Connect a cluster you've already provisioned. Codiac installs its lightweight components without disrupting existing workloads.

Step 2: Create Your Production Environment​

Create a new environment on your own cluster:

  1. In the Codiac dashboard, click + to create a new environment
  2. Name it (e.g., production, staging, or dev)
  3. Select your newly created cluster
  4. Create a cabinet within the environment

Step 3: Deploy Your Assets​

Your asset definitions from the sandbox are already in Codiac. Deploy them to your new cabinet:

  1. Open your new cabinet in the dashboard
  2. Drag assets from the Asset Inventory panel into your cabinet
  3. Or use the CLI:
codiac asset deploy
# Select your asset, version, and target cabinet

Step 4: Configure for Your Environment​

Codiac's dynamic configuration lets you set environment-specific values without rebuilding images:

codiac config set
# Select scope (environment or cabinet), key, and value

Set your production database URLs, API keys, feature flags, and other environment-specific settings. Your sandbox configs serve as a template - adjust values for your new environment.

Step 5: Configure DNS​

Map your custom domain to your assets:

codiac host map
# Follow prompts for domain, scope, and host naming strategy

Update your DNS records with the provided IP address. Codiac automatically provisions TLS certificates via Let's Encrypt.

See DNS & Ingress Guide for details.

What Your SRE Team Gets​

When you hand off your sandbox-proven stack to your infrastructure team, they inherit:

  • A clean enterprise structure - organized by environments and cabinets, not ad-hoc scripts
  • Versioned deployments - every deployment captured as an immutable snapshot
  • Reproducible environments - clone any environment with one command
  • Configuration hierarchy - enterprise → environment → cabinet → asset, with proper inheritance
  • No tribal knowledge required - Codiac's dashboard shows everything: what's deployed, what version, what config

Enterprise Features Unlocked​

Your own infrastructure unlocks capabilities that sandboxes don't include:

FeatureWhat it does
Custom domainsMap your own DNS to any service
Secrets managementIntegrate with AWS Secrets Manager, Azure Key Vault
Zombie ModeCut non-prod costs 60-75% with automated scheduling
Multi-environment promotionPromote snapshots from staging to production
Cluster hoppingZero-downtime Kubernetes version upgrades
System versioningFull snapshot and rollback across all services
RBACGranular role-based access control
Geoproximity routingRoute users to the nearest cluster

The Confidence Gap​

This is the gap nobody else closes:

Other platforms give you a demo. You try a sandbox, then start over from scratch when you're ready for production. Different configs, different patterns, different infrastructure.

Codiac gives you a running environment you can graduate. Sandbox → your cloud → enterprise. Same platform, same configs, same confidence. Your SRE team inherits a proven, versioned, reproducible environment - not a pile of scripts and tribal knowledge.

Next Steps​