Anyone here built an internal dev platform that people used?

by DeborahEmeni_ on 4/22/2025, 5:02:51 PM with 4 comments
I’ve seen a few teams build internal dev platforms with great intentions: standardized tooling, faster onboarding, less cognitive load. But adoption often seems like the hardest part.

Would love to hear what worked (or didn’t) for folks here. Did you build it from scratch or stitch together existing tools? Was usage organic or did you have to push it hard internally? Any lessons on what made people actually use it?

Also open to stories where it didn’t work out. Did you end up switching to an off-the-shelf option later?

  • by kamrahnach on 4/22/2025, 10:26:03 PM

    not sure if this is precisely what the questioner is after but will share anyhow. have developed something like this two times. both combine oss solutions with some custom tooling.

    1. setup a platform using jupyterhub on kubernetes * use case leans towards research and mixed research-dev workflows * user only requires browser installed locally * jupyterhub server selection menu is configured such that * user selects container image to spawn from: these are usually built per project tool chain * user selects node type to run on: for example if user needs gpu resources, then can schedule onto cluster node with gpu devices attached 2. setup a platform that integrates monorepo with vscode devcontainer * use case focuses on developers * requires vscode, docker installed locally * monorepo contains a collection of subprojects for running services and jobs * each subproject define its own devcontainer settings * these follow common patterns per runtime and runtime version needed for project * devcontainer images are pre-built and maintained in onprem container registry

  • by mmarian on 4/22/2025, 6:36:32 PM

    Haven't built, but seen it happen in a sister team. They over-planned, instead of taking a startup-like approach and focusing on the low-hanging fruit. Hasn't been successful.