Integrate mirrord & fake-deps development flow

Add mirrord-based local dev flow and helm-managed fake near-dependencies. Changes include:

- Add .mirrord/mirrord.json with targetless mirrord config (network/env/fs features).
- Update .devcontainer to install mirrord and add mirrord VS Code / JetBrains extensions.
- Update post-create script to install mirrord, update Helm deps path, and update next-step hints.
- Makefile: introduce HELM_FAKE, new dev-deps / dev-deps-delete targets to deploy/remove fake services, and switch dev / dev-run to run the API locally via mirrord (dotnet watch/run).
- Skaffold: reduce to managing the fake chart (deploy/fake), remove local image artifacts and port-forwarding so skaffold is only used for fake-deps lifecycle.

Motivation: allow running the API locally with cluster network access (DNS/services) without deploying the app into Kubernetes; use Helm to manage fake dependencies in the local kind cluster. Recommended flow: make cluster-create && make dev-deps, then make dev.

Author: czprz

.devcontainer/devcontainer.json

@@ -13,7 +13,8 @@
       "plugins": [
         "com.intellij.kubernetes",
         "org.jetbrains.plugins.yaml",
-        "Docker"
+        "Docker",
+        "com.metalbear.mirrord"
       ],
       "settings": {
         "editor.reformat.on.save": true
@@ -32,7 +33,8 @@
         "mhutchie.git-graph",
         "ms-kubernetes-tools.vscode-kubernetes-tools",
         "redhat.vscode-yaml",
-        "humao.rest-client"
+        "humao.rest-client",
+        "metalbear-co.mirrord"
       ],
       "settings": {
         "editor.formatOnSave": true,

.devcontainer/post-create.sh

@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 # Runs once after the dev container is created.
-# Installs tools not available as devcontainer features (kind, skaffold)
-# and restores .NET packages.
+# Installs tools (kind, mirrord) and restores .NET packages.
 set -eu
 
 echo ""
@@ -20,14 +19,14 @@ else
   echo "→ kind already installed: $(kind version)"
 fi
 
-# ── skaffold ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
-if ! command -v skaffold &>/dev/null; then
-  echo "→ Installing skaffold (latest stable)..."
-  curl -sSLo /tmp/skaffold "https://storage.googleapis.com/skaffold/releases/latest/skaffold-linux-amd64"
-  chmod +x /tmp/skaffold
-  sudo mv /tmp/skaffold /usr/local/bin/skaffold
+# ── mirrord ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+# mirrord gives the local process cluster network access (DNS, services)
+# without deploying the app into k8s — run `make dev` to start with it.
+if ! command -v mirrord &>/dev/null; then
+  echo "→ Installing mirrord..."
+  curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/metalbear-co/mirrord/main/scripts/install.sh | bash
 else
-  echo "→ skaffold already installed: $(skaffold version)"
+  echo "→ mirrord already installed: $(mirrord --version)"
 fi
 
 # ── .NET restore ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
@@ -53,12 +52,13 @@ helm repo add open-telemetry https://open-telemetry.github.io/opentelemetry-helm
 helm repo update
 
 echo "→ Updating Helm chart dependencies..."
-helm dependency update charts
+helm dependency update deploy/helm
 
 echo ""
 echo "✅ Dev container ready!"
 echo ""
 echo "   Next steps:"
 echo "     make cluster-create   — create local kind cluster + registry"
-echo "     make dev               — build, deploy & watch (skaffold dev)"
+echo "     make dev-deps          — deploy fake near-dependencies into the cluster"
+echo "     make dev               — run the API locally with cluster network access (mirrord)"
 echo ""

.mirrord/mirrord.json

@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+{
+  "$schema": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/metalbear-co/mirrord/main/mirrord-schema.json",
+
+  // Targetless mode: no pod is mirrored. The local process gets cluster
+  // network access (DNS, services) without stealing traffic from any pod.
+  // This is the right mode when developing against fake near-dependencies
+  // deployed into the local kind cluster.
+  "target": "targetless",
+
+  "feature": {
+    "network": {
+      // Route outgoing traffic through the cluster so service DNS names
+      // resolve — e.g. http://team-a-service-fake resolves to the pod in k8s.
+      "outgoing": true
+    },
+    // Inject cluster environment variables into the local process.
+    // Keeps parity with how the app sees its environment when deployed.
+    "env": true,
+    // Use local filesystem — do not mirror cluster pod's filesystem.
+    "fs": "local"
+  }
+}

Makefile

@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ CLUSTER_NAME   := service-template
 REGISTRY       := localhost:5001
 IMAGE          := $(REGISTRY)/service-template
 HELM_CHART     := deploy/helm
+HELM_FAKE      := deploy/fake
 HELM_RELEASE   := service-template
 NAMESPACE      := default
 
@@ -66,17 +67,27 @@ cluster-status: ## Show cluster nodes, registry, and Helm release status
 	@helm list -n $(NAMESPACE) 2>/dev/null || true
 
 # ── Dev loop ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+.PHONY: dev-deps
+dev-deps: ## Deploy fake near-dependencies into local kind cluster
+	helm dependency update $(HELM_FAKE)
+	helm upgrade --install dev-deps $(HELM_FAKE) \
+		-f $(HELM_FAKE)/values.yaml \
+		--namespace $(NAMESPACE) \
+		--wait --timeout 5m
+
+.PHONY: dev-deps-delete
+dev-deps-delete: ## Remove fake near-dependencies from local cluster
+	helm uninstall dev-deps --namespace $(NAMESPACE) 2>/dev/null || true
+
 .PHONY: dev
-dev: ## Build, deploy and watch for changes (skaffold dev + port-forward :8080)
-	skaffold dev --port-forward
+dev: ## Run the API locally with cluster network access via mirrord (requires: make cluster-create && make dev-deps)
+	mirrord exec --config .mirrord/mirrord.json -- \
+		dotnet watch run --project $(SRC_API) --launch-profile Development
 
 .PHONY: dev-run
-dev-run: ## One-shot build and deploy (no file watching)
-	skaffold run --port-forward
-
-.PHONY: dev-delete
-dev-delete: ## Remove the skaffold-managed release from the cluster
-	skaffold delete
+dev-run: ## One-shot run without file watching
+	mirrord exec --config .mirrord/mirrord.json -- \
+		dotnet run --project $(SRC_API) --launch-profile Development
 
 # ── Build ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 .PHONY: build

skaffold.yaml

@@ -3,42 +3,26 @@ kind: Config
 metadata:
   name: service-template
 
+# The app runs locally via `make dev` (mirrord + dotnet watch).
+# Skaffold is used only to manage the fake near-dependency lifecycle in the
+# local kind cluster. Run `make dev-deps` instead for simpler helm-only usage.
+
 build:
-  artifacts:
-    - image: localhost:5001/service-template
-      docker:
-        dockerfile: Dockerfile
-        buildArgs:
-          VERSION: dev
-  local:
-    push: true
-    useDockerCLI: true
+  artifacts: []
 
 deploy:
   helm:
     releases:
-      - name: service-template
-        chartPath: deploy/helm
+      - name: dev-deps
+        chartPath: deploy/fake
         valuesFiles:
-          - deploy/helm/values.yaml
-          - values.local.yaml
-        # Skaffold injects the built image tag by matching image.repository in values.local.yaml
-        # against the artifact image name above. The tag is set automatically on each build.
-        setValueTemplates:
-          image.repository: "{{.IMAGE_REPO_localhost_5001_service_template}}"
-          image.tag: "{{.IMAGE_TAG_localhost_5001_service_template}}"
+          - deploy/fake/values.yaml
         wait: true
-        skipBuildDependencies: true  # dependencies already updated via 'make helm-deps'
+        skipBuildDependencies: false
     flags:
       install: ["--timeout=5m", "--atomic"]
       upgrade: ["--timeout=5m", "--atomic", "--cleanup-on-fail"]
 
-# Port-forward the app to localhost:8080 while 'skaffold dev' is running.
-# Skaffold cleans this up automatically on exit (Ctrl+C).
-portForward:
-  - resourceType: service
-    resourceName: service-template
-    namespace: default
-    port: 80
-    localPort: 8080
-    address: 0.0.0.0
+# Port-forward fake services for tools that need localhost access (e.g. tests
+# running outside mirrord). Adjust ports to match deploy/fake/values.yaml.
+portForward: []