Repo Provisioning in 30 Minutes

TL;DR

I built a self-service platform that cut repository creation from 2 weeks to 30 minutes—a 99% reduction—and put it in the hands of 150 engineers.

Context

At Eventbrite, engineering teams were blocked before they could write a line of code. Spinning up a new repository meant manual approvals, DevOps involvement, and hunting through scattered docs. Engineers waited weeks just to start a project.

Problem

• Repository creation took 2 weeks of manual approvals and hand-offs
• DevOps was buried under one-off provisioning requests
• Nothing was self-service—every request needed DevOps to step in
• Documentation was scattered and out of date
• Engineers sat in a queue instead of building

What I Did

1. Mapped the process: I documented the entire repo-creation workflow end to end to find where the time actually went.
2. Aligned stakeholders: I built consensus with DevOps, Security, and engineering leadership on what could be automated safely.
3. Designed the platform: I designed self-service provisioning with guardrails instead of gatekeepers.
4. Rolled out incrementally: I piloted with friendly teams, fixed the rough edges, then launched org-wide.

Key Decisions

Automate the approval, not just the task

Instead of stripping out approvals, I automated the criteria behind them. Security and compliance checks now run automatically and block only genuine issues.

Template-based creation

I standardized templates for common service types (API, worker, frontend) with best practices baked in, so teams start from a good default.

Integrated CI/CD from day one

New repos ship with GitHub Actions workflows, security scanning, and deployment pipelines already wired up.

Technical Details

• Automation platform: An internal tool built on GitHub Actions and Terraform
• Template library: Standardized templates for APIs, workers, and frontend services
• Security scanning: Automated SAST/DAST integration from the first commit
• IaC templates: Terraform modules for databases, caches, and queues

Results

• Removed the DevOps bottleneck for repo provisioning entirely
• Engineers can stand up new projects same-day
• Security and compliance are consistent from day one

Lessons Learned

1. Automate the approval, not just the task: The bottleneck wasn't the work—it was waiting for sign-off. Automating the approval criteria was the unlock.
2. Templates encode best practices: Good defaults mean teams get security, monitoring, and CI/CD without having to think about them.
3. Self-service is a force multiplier: Every hour I put into self-service tooling saved hundreds of engineering hours downstream.