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Recipe: Custom Platform Hooks and nginx Extensions

Prerequisites

  • Elastic Beanstalk Node.js environment on Linux platform.
  • Repository access to add .platform directory content.
  • Shell scripting familiarity for lifecycle hook scripts.
  • Awareness of deployment sequence and rollback behavior.

What You'll Build

You will extend platform behavior by adding lifecycle hook scripts under .platform/hooks and reverse proxy fragments under .platform/nginx, enabling custom validation, migration, and response handling logic.

flowchart TD
    A[Application Source Bundle] --> B[.platform/hooks/prebuild]
    B --> C[.platform/hooks/predeploy]
    C --> D[Deploy Application]
    D --> E[.platform/hooks/postdeploy]
    A --> F[.platform/nginx/conf.d/*.conf]
    F --> G[nginx runtime behavior]

Steps

  1. Create lifecycle hook script files with executable permissions.

    .platform/hooks/prebuild/10-check-env.sh
.platform/hooks/predeploy/20-run-migrations.sh
.platform/hooks/postdeploy/30-smoke.sh

  2. Keep scripts idempotent and fail-fast on unrecoverable conditions.

  3. Add nginx custom configuration snippets in .platform/nginx/conf.d/.

    add_header X-Content-Type-Options "nosniff" always;
add_header X-Frame-Options "DENY" always;

  4. Deploy and inspect deployment logs for hook execution order.

    eb deploy
eb logs

  5. Validate nginx behavior by issuing HTTP requests.

    curl --verbose https://<env-domain>/

  6. Keep hook scripts compatible with Linux shell execution in Elastic Beanstalk instances.

    • Add explicit shebang lines.
    • Use executable file permissions.
    • Avoid assumptions about interactive shell input.

  7. Document the operational purpose of each hook.

    • Validation.
    • Migration.
    • Post-deploy smoke checks.

Verification

  • Hook scripts run at expected lifecycle stages.
  • Deployment fails early when preconditions are not met.
  • nginx snippets are loaded without syntax errors.
  • Response headers or routing behaviors reflect custom config.
  • Hook intent and failure modes are documented for operators.

See Also

Sources