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NextJS Application Deployment on AWS ECS

NextJS Docker AWS ECS ECR GitHub Actions

Overview

Deployed a NextJS application on AWS ECS with a fully automated GitHub Actions CI/CD pipeline. On every push to the repository, the pipeline builds a new Docker image, tags it, pushes it to Amazon ECR, and runs a new ECS task automatically. The setup includes separate security groups for the application and load balancer, a custom Task Definition, and extended ECS task execution role permissions.

Architecture

Architecture Diagram

The deployment consists of:

  • GitHub Actions pipeline triggers on every push — builds, tags, and pushes image to ECR
  • Amazon ECR stores the Docker image
  • AWS ECS cluster runs the NextJS application via Task Definition and Service
  • Application Load Balancer routes traffic with a dedicated security group
  • ecsTaskExecutionRole extended with additional permissions for the workload

Tech Stack

Layer Technology
Application NextJS
Containerisation Docker
Image registry Amazon ECR
Container orchestration AWS ECS
CI/CD GitHub Actions
Load balancing AWS Application Load Balancer
Security AWS Security Groups (app + ALB)
IAM ecsTaskExecutionRole (extended)

What Was Built

1. Security groups

  • Configured separate security group for the NextJS application container
  • Configured separate security group for the Application Load Balancer
  • Least privilege inbound/outbound rules on both

2. AWS ECS cluster + Task Definition

  • Deployed an ECS cluster
  • Created a Task Definition with the correct CPU, memory, and container configuration for the NextJS app
  • Attached extended permissions to the ecsTaskExecutionRole for additional AWS service access

3. ECS Service

  • Deployed the task in an ECS Service for managed, self-healing execution
  • Load Balancer attached to the service for traffic routing

4. GitHub Actions CI/CD pipeline

  • On every push: builds the Docker image, tags it with the commit SHA, pushes to ECR
  • Pipeline then forces a new ECS task deployment with the updated image
  • AWS credentials stored in GitHub Secrets

5. Demo delivered

  • Demonstrated full flow: push code → pipeline runs → new image in ECR → new task running on ECS

Project Structure

11-nextJS-DEVOPS/
├── deploy.yml (GitHub Actions pipeline)
├── task.json
└── README.md

GitHub Actions Pipeline Flow

git push → GitHub Actions triggers
         → Docker build + tag with commit SHA
         → Push image to Amazon ECR
         → Force new ECS deployment
         → New task running with updated image

Key Learnings

  • Separating security groups for ALB and ECS container is a security best practice — ALB accepts public traffic, container only accepts traffic from ALB
  • The ecsTaskExecutionRole needs to be extended when the container needs to pull from a private ECR repo or access other AWS services
  • Tagging images with the commit SHA gives full traceability — you always know exactly which code version is running in production