[GitHub Discussions] Deployment & CI/CD documentation gaps

[davidfowl]

Summary

Based on analysis of 820 GitHub discussions from dotnet/aspire.

Question counts:

Topic	Questions
Deployment (general)	111
Kubernetes/Helm	25+
CI/CD Pipelines	20+
aspire deploy CLI	15+

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Docs That Exist - Verified If They Answer Questions

✅ Questions Answered by Docs

Question	Doc	Section That Answers
microsoft/aspire#14092: Can you specify which project(s) to deploy?	pipelines-and-app-topology	"Running specific steps" - aspire do deploy-apiservice

❌ Questions NOT Answered by Any Doc

Question	Searched Docs	What's Missing
microsoft/aspire#12612: ASPIRE_RESOURCE_SERVICE_ENDPOINT_URL in Kubernetes	kubernetes-integration	No mention of this env var anywhere
microsoft/aspire#9380: Database ConnectionString all Empty inside K8s	kubernetes-integration	No troubleshooting, only says "Connection strings → ConfigMaps and Secrets"
microsoft/aspire#9372: PgSql Invalid Password in K8s	kubernetes-integration, postgresql-*	No K8s-specific password troubleshooting
microsoft/aspire#13911: How to debug "aspire publish" and "aspire deploy"	deploy-using-the-aspire-cli	No debugging/verbose output section
microsoft/aspire#11127: Tests fail in Azure pipeline but pass locally	None	No CI/CD testing guide exists
microsoft/aspire#10927: Deploy from on-premises Devops Server	None	No on-prem deployment docs
microsoft/aspire#13694: Self-hosting on Linux VPS	None	No self-hosting docs

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Critical Gaps - No Documentation Exists

❌ P0: CI/CD Integration Guide

Questions: microsoft/aspire#11127, microsoft/aspire#10927, microsoft/aspire#9899, microsoft/aspire#9057
Status: Only GitHub Actions example in docker-integration
Missing:

• Azure DevOps pipeline setup
• GitLab CI setup
• Service Principal vs User auth in CI
• Test failures in CI troubleshooting
• Multi-environment CI workflows

❌ P0: Self-Hosting / Non-Azure

Questions: microsoft/aspire#13694, microsoft/aspire#12204, microsoft/aspire#10657, microsoft/aspire#6690
Status: No docs exist
Missing:

• Linux VPS deployment
• On-premises patterns
• AWS/GCP deployment
• Air-gapped environments

❌ P1: Kubernetes Troubleshooting

Questions: microsoft/aspire#12612, microsoft/aspire#9380, microsoft/aspire#9372
Status: kubernetes-integration exists but lacks troubleshooting
Missing:

• ASPIRE_RESOURCE_SERVICE_ENDPOINT_URL docs
• Connection string debugging
• Password/secrets issues

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Data Source

• GitHub Discussions: 820 total, 111 deployment-related
• Verification method: aspire-get_doc to read actual doc content
• Date: February 2026