Documentation for Cloud Seed

..catered to serving the initial set of Trusted Testers

doc/cloud_seed/index.md

+---
+stage: Release
+group: Incubation
+info: Cloud Seed (formerly 5mp) is a GitLab Incubation Engineering program. No technical writer assigned to this group.
+---
+
+# Cloud Seed
+
+Cloud Seed is an open-source program led
+by [GitLab Incubation Engineering](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/incubation/) in collaboration with
+[Google Cloud](https://cloud.google.com/).
+
+Cloud Seed is in `private-testing` mode and is available to a select group of users. If you are interested in joining
+this group, please fill in
+the [Cloud Seed Trusted Testers invitation form](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeJPtFE8Vpqs_YTAKkFK42p5mO9zIYA2jr_PiP2h32cs8R39Q/viewform)
+and we will reach out to you.
+
+## Purpose
+
+We believe that it should be **trivial** to deploy web applications (and other workloads) from GitLab to major cloud
+providers.
+
+To support this effort, Cloud Seed makes it simple and intuitive to consume appropriate Google Cloud services
+within GitLab.
+
+## Why Google Cloud
+
+*or Why not AWS or Azure?*
+
+Cloud Seed is an open-source program that can be extended by anyone, and we'd love to work with every major cloud
+provider. We chose to work with Google Cloud because their team is accessible, supportive, and collaborative in
+this effort.
+
+As an open-source project, [everyone can contribute](#contribute-to-cloud-seed) and shape our direction.
+
+## Deploy to Google Cloud Run
+
+After you have your web application in a GitLab project, follow these steps
+to deploy your application from GitLab to Google Cloud with Cloud Seed:
+
+1. [Set up deployment credentials](#set-up-deployment-credentials)
+1. (Optional) [Configure your preferred GCP region](#configure-your-preferred-gcp-region)
+1. [Configure the Cloud Run deployment pipeline](#configure-the-cloud-run-deployment-pipeline)
+
+### Set up deployment credentials
+
+Cloud Seed provides an interface to create Google Cloud Platform (GCP) service accounts from your GitLab project. The associated GCP project
+must be selected during the service account creation workflow. This process generates a service account, keys, and deployment permissions.
+
+To create a service account:
+
+1. Go to the `Project :: Infrastructure :: Google Cloud` page.
+1. Select **Create Service Account**.
+1. Follow the Google OAuth 2 workflow and authorize GitLab.
+1. Select your GCP project.
+1. Associate a Git reference (such as a branch or tag) for the selected GCP project.
+1. Submit the form to create the service account.
+
+The generated service account, service account key, and associated GCP project ID are stored in GitLab as project CI
+variables. You can review and manage these in the `Project :: Settings :: CI` page.
+
+The generated service account has the following roles:
+
+- `roles/iam.serviceAccountUser`
+- `roles/artifactregistry.admin`
+- `roles/cloudbuild.builds.builder`
+- `roles/run.admin`
+- `roles/storage.admin`
+- `roles/cloudsql.admin`
+- `roles/browser`
+
+You can enhance security by storing CI variables in secret managers. Learn more about [secret management with GitLab](../ci/secrets/index.md).
+
+### Configure your preferred GCP region
+
+When you configure GCP regions for your deployments, the list of regions offered is a subset of
+all GCP regions available.
+
+To configure a region:
+
+1. Go to the `Project :: Infrastructure :: Google Cloud` page.
+1. Select **Configure GCP Region**.
+1. Select your preferred GCP region.
+1. Associate a Git reference (such as a branch or tag) for the selected GCP region.
+1. Submit the form to configure the GCP region.
+
+The configured GCP region is stored in GitLab as a project CI variable. You can review and manage these in
+the `Project :: Settings :: CI` page.
+
+### Configure the Cloud Run deployment pipeline
+
+You can configure the Google Cloud Run deployment job in your pipeline. A typical use case for such
+a pipeline is continuous deployment of your web application.
+
+The project pipeline itself could have a broader purpose spanning across several stages, such as build, test, and secure.
+Therefore, the Cloud Run deployment offering comes packaged as one job that fits into a much larger pipeline.
+
+To configure the Cloud Run deployment pipeline:
+
+1. Go to the `Project :: Infrastructure :: Google Cloud` page.
+1. Go to the `Deployments` tab.
+1. For `Cloud Run`, select **Configure via Merge Request**.
+1. Review the changes and submit to create a merge request.
+
+This creates a new branch with the Cloud Run deployment pipeline (or injected into an existing pipeline)
+and creates an associated merge request where the changes and deployment pipeline execution can be reviewed and merged
+into the main branch.
+
+## Contribute to Cloud Seed
+
+There are several ways you can contribute to Cloud Seed:
+
+- [Become a Cloud Seed user](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeJPtFE8Vpqs_YTAKkFK42p5mO9zIYA2jr_PiP2h32cs8R39Q/viewform)
+  in GitLab
+  and [share feedback](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/incubation-engineering/five-minute-production/feedback/-/issues/new?template=general_feedback).
+- If you are familiar with Ruby on Rails or Vue.js,
+  consider [contributing to GitLab](../development/contributing/index.md) as a developer.
+  - Much of Cloud Seed is an internal module within the GitLab code base.
+- If you are familiar with GitLab pipelines, consider contributing to
+  the [Cloud Seed Library](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/incubation-engineering/five-minute-production/library) project.

doc/topics/release_your_application.md

@@ -64,3 +64,8 @@ Use GitLab [Releases](../user/project/releases/index.md) to plan, build, and del
 ### Feature flags
 
 Use [feature flags](../operations/feature_flags.md) to control and strategically rollout application deployments.
+
+## Deploy to Google Cloud
+
+GitLab [Cloud Seed](../cloud_seed/index.md) is an open-source Incubation Engineering program that 
+enables you to set up deployment credentials and deploy your application to Google Cloud Run with minimal friction.