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Investigate: dev-template.sh v1.5.0 missing placeholder substitution

IMPLEMENTATION RULES: Before implementing this plan, read and follow:

Status: Completed​

Goal: Determine the best approach to restore placeholder substitution in dev-template.sh and remove the obsolete urbalurba-scripts/ copy block.

GitHub Issue: #67

Last Updated: 2026-03-04

Questions to Answer​

  1. Where exactly in the current dev-template.sh (v1.5.0) should replace_placeholders() be restored?
  2. Which files need substitution after the ingress.yaml removal?
  3. Are there any other placeholders beyond {{REPO_NAME}} and {{GITHUB_USERNAME}}?
  4. Where is the urbalurba-scripts/ copy block and what exactly does it copy?
  5. Are there any downstream effects of removing the urbalurba-scripts/ copy?

Current State​

When dev-template.sh was moved from urbalurba-dev-templates to devcontainer-toolbox, the replace_placeholders() function was not carried over. The current v1.5.0 copies template files as-is without substituting {{REPO_NAME}} and {{GITHUB_USERNAME}}.

Impact — entire deploy chain is broken​

Without substitution, three things fail in sequence:

  1. manifests/deployment.yaml contains literal {{REPO_NAME}}-deployment — not a valid Kubernetes resource name
  2. GitHub Actions workflow sed pattern doesn't match the un-substituted placeholders — silently does nothing
  3. ArgoCD cannot sync because the manifests contain invalid YAML values

What the old version had​

The v1.1.0 script had a replace_placeholders() function (lines 540-562) that ran sed substitution on {{GITHUB_USERNAME}} and {{REPO_NAME}} across manifests/*.yaml and .github/workflows/*.yaml.

Fix 1: Restore placeholder substitution​

Restore the replace_placeholders() function from v1.1.0 into dev-template.sh. Call it on manifests/*.yaml after copy_template_files() completes.

Files that need substitution:

  • manifests/deployment.yaml — 8 × {{REPO_NAME}}, 2 × {{GITHUB_USERNAME}}
  • manifests/kustomization.yaml — 2 × {{REPO_NAME}}, 2 × {{GITHUB_USERNAME}}
  • .github/workflows/urbalurba-build-and-push.yaml — no fix needed (uses GitHub context variables)

Fix 2: Remove urbalurba-scripts/ copy block​

The copy_template_files() function copies the urbalurba-scripts/ directory into new projects. This directory contains obsolete registration scripts (register-argocd.sh, remove-argocd.sh, check-deployment.sh, etc.) that predate the uis CLI.

All functionality is now handled by uis argocd register/remove/list/verify. The copy block should be removed.

Investigation Tasks​

  • Read current dev-template.sh to understand the structure and find copy_template_files()
  • Locate the urbalurba-scripts/ copy block
  • Check the old v1.1.0 replace_placeholders() function in urbalurba-dev-templates
  • Verify which placeholders exist in the template files
  • Determine if any other scripts depend on urbalurba-scripts/ being present
  • Assess whether this is a simple restore or needs redesign

Investigation Findings​

Q1: Where should replace_placeholders() be restored?​

The current script flow in dev-template.sh (v1.5.0) is:

check_prerequisites → download_templates → scan_templates → select_template
→ verify_template → copy_template_files → setup_github_workflows → merge_gitignore
→ cd $OLDPWD → cleanup_and_complete

The substitution must happen after copy_template_files() and setup_github_workflows() copy files into $OLDPWD, but before cleanup_and_complete(). A new replace_placeholders() function + a process_essential_files() caller should be added between merge_gitignore and cd "$OLDPWD" (around line 467).

Critical missing piece: The current v1.5.0 script has no code to extract GITHUB_USERNAME and REPO_NAME from the git remote.

Existing library: .devcontainer/additions/lib/git-identity.sh already provides:

  • parse_git_remote_url() — parses GitHub (HTTPS+SSH), Azure DevOps, and generic remotes
  • detect_git_identity() — full detection with fallbacks, exports GIT_ORG and GIT_REPO

The script should source lib/git-identity.sh and call detect_git_identity — no need to write custom detection.

Validation must happen early — before downloading templates. The script should:

  1. Source git-identity.sh and call detect_git_identity
  2. Validate that GIT_ORG is not empty (needed for ghcr.io/{{GITHUB_USERNAME}}/...)
  3. Validate that GIT_REPO is not empty
  4. Abort with a clear error if either is missing, explaining what the user needs to do (e.g., git remote add origin ...)
  5. Only then proceed to download_templates

Updated flow:

check_prerequisites → detect_and_validate_repo_info → download_templates → scan_templates
→ select_template → verify_template → copy_template_files → setup_github_workflows
→ merge_gitignore → replace_placeholders → cd $OLDPWD → cleanup_and_complete

Edge cases where GIT_ORG would be empty:

  • No git repo initialized (git init not run)
  • No remote configured (git remote add origin not run)
  • Non-GitHub/Azure DevOps remote (generic fallback sets GIT_ORG="")

All of these should produce a clear error message before any template work begins.

Q2: Which files need substitution?​

Confirmed from ALL 7 template source directories:

  • manifests/deployment.yaml — all 7 templates: {{REPO_NAME}}, {{GITHUB_USERNAME}}
  • manifests/kustomization.yaml — all 7 templates: {{REPO_NAME}}, {{GITHUB_USERNAME}}
  • .github/workflows/urbalurba-build-and-push.yaml — 4 of 7 templates (csharp, golang, java, php) contain {{REPO_NAME}} and {{GITHUB_USERNAME}} placeholders

Correction from initial analysis: The issue stated workflows don't need substitution. This is wrong for 4 templates. The substitution must run on both manifests/*.yaml AND .github/workflows/*.yaml.

No ingress.yaml files exist in any template (already removed).

Q3: Any other placeholders?​

No custom template placeholders beyond {{REPO_NAME}} and {{GITHUB_USERNAME}}. The ${{ ... }} patterns in workflow files (e.g., ${{ github.repository }}, ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}) are GitHub Actions context variables — these must NOT be touched by the sed substitution. The {{ vs ${{ distinction is important.

Q4: Where is the urbalurba-scripts/ copy block?​

Lines 363-369 of the current dev-template.sh:

if [ -d "$TEMPLATE_REPO_NAME/urbalurba-scripts" ]; then
    echo "   Setting up urbalurba-scripts..."
    mkdir -p "$OLDPWD/urbalurba-scripts"
    cp -r "$TEMPLATE_REPO_NAME/urbalurba-scripts/"* "$OLDPWD/urbalurba-scripts/"
    chmod +x "$OLDPWD/urbalurba-scripts/"*.sh 2>/dev/null || true
    echo "   ✅ Added urbalurba-scripts"
fi

Q5: Any downstream effects of removing urbalurba-scripts/?​

None. The urbalurba-scripts/ directory no longer exists on the remote urbalurba-dev-templates repo (confirmed via GitHub API — returns 404). The copy block is already dead code. Removing it is safe.

Q6: Simple restore or redesign?​

Simple restore with several improvements. The fix requires:

  1. Add path resolution (SCRIPT_DIR, ADDITIONS_DIR) — same pattern as dev-setup.sh and dev-help.sh
  2. Source existing lib/git-identity.sh and call detect_git_identity early (before downloading)
  3. Validate GIT_ORG and GIT_REPO are not empty — abort with clear error if missing
  4. Replace $OLDPWD usage with explicit CALLER_DIR="$PWD" captured at script start
  5. Add replace_placeholders() function using $GIT_ORG and $GIT_REPO (adapted from v1.1.0)
  6. Add process_essential_files() to call it on manifests/*.yaml AND .github/workflows/*.yaml
  7. Remove the urbalurba-scripts/ copy block (lines 363-369)
  8. Bump SCRIPT_VERSION to 1.6.0

Reuses existing git-identity.sh library rather than duplicating detection logic.

Gaps Found During Validation​

Gap 1: Workflow files need substitution too​

The issue and initial analysis stated .github/workflows/*.yaml don't need substitution. This is wrong. 4 of 7 templates (csharp, golang, java, php) have {{REPO_NAME}} and {{GITHUB_USERNAME}} in their workflow files. Must substitute both manifests/*.yaml and .github/workflows/*.yaml.

Important: The sed pattern {{REPO_NAME}} must NOT match ${{ github.repository }} or other GitHub Actions context variables. The existing sed from v1.1.0 uses exact match (s|{{GITHUB_USERNAME}}|...|g) which is safe — ${{ won't match {{.

Gap 2: $OLDPWD is fragile​

The script uses $OLDPWD throughout (lines 361, 365-367, 380-381, 394-408) to write files back to the user's project. This relies on cd "$TEMP_DIR" being the only cd in the script. But detect_git_identity() also does cd /workspace internally, which would corrupt $OLDPWD.

Fix: Capture CALLER_DIR="$PWD" at script start and replace all $OLDPWD references with $CALLER_DIR.

Gap 3: No path resolution for sourcing libraries​

dev-template.sh has no SCRIPT_DIR/ADDITIONS_DIR path calculation. It cannot source git-identity.sh without this. Other manage/ scripts (dev-help.sh, dev-setup.sh) already have this pattern:

SCRIPT_DIR="$(dirname "$(readlink -f "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")")"
DEVCONTAINER_DIR="$(dirname "$SCRIPT_DIR")"
ADDITIONS_DIR="$DEVCONTAINER_DIR/additions"

Gap 4: detect_git_identity() changes working directory​

The function does cd "$workspace_dir" (defaults to /workspace). If called after cd "$TEMP_DIR", it changes the cwd back. If called before, it sets cwd to /workspace, and then cd "$TEMP_DIR" overwrites it. Using CALLER_DIR instead of $OLDPWD eliminates this fragility regardless of call order.

Gap 5: Non-GitHub providers​

Templates use ghcr.io/{{GITHUB_USERNAME}}/{{REPO_NAME}} — this is GitHub Container Registry. If GIT_PROVIDER is azure-devops, GIT_ORG maps to an Azure DevOps org, not a GitHub username. The image path would be technically wrong. For now, the templates are GitHub-only, so the validation should check GIT_PROVIDER == "github" and warn (but not block) for other providers.

Recommendation​

Create a single PLAN file with four phases:

  • Phase 1: Add path resolution and CALLER_DIR — replace all $OLDPWD usage, add SCRIPT_DIR/ADDITIONS_DIR calculation
  • Phase 2: Add repo info detection and validation — source git-identity.sh, call detect_git_identity, validate GIT_ORG/GIT_REPO before downloading templates
  • Phase 3: Add replace_placeholders() + process_essential_files() — substitute both manifests/*.yaml and .github/workflows/*.yaml
  • Phase 4: Remove urbalurba-scripts/ copy block + bump version to 1.6.0

Next Steps​

  • Create PLAN-dev-template-placeholder-fix.md with the approach above