Which IaC

A site that helps users choose between infrastructure and automation tools using auditable data and rules.

What This Site Is For

Which IaC helps engineering teams select infrastructure-as-code and automation tools using transparent, auditable criteria.

• Answer a short questionnaire about your targets and requirements.
• See a comparison table with neutral, sourced facts from official documentation.
• Get recommendations that first apply hard exclusions, then weighted preferences.
• Explore per-tool pages with concise summaries and primary references.

The project intentionally avoids subjective claims. All facts are based on official sources and rules are explicit and easy to audit.

Features

• Static export ready for GitHub Pages
• Data-driven questionnaire and comparison views
• Transparent decision engine with hard exclusions and weighted rules
• Per-tool fact pages with official references
• About page that explains questions and rules
• Playwright end-to-end tests for quiz, compare, and about flows
• Minimal, accessible UI

Quick Start

• Prerequisites: Node.js 18+ and npm
• Install and run locally:

npm install
npm run dev

Open http://localhost:3000/.

Project structure

src/data/tools.json      # Tool facts and official references
src/data/questions.json  # Questionnaire content
src/data/rules.json      # Must-have exclusions and weighted scoring
src/lib/recommend.ts     # Recommendation engine

Data files

src/data/tools.json

• Array of tool objects used across compare/results/detail pages.
• Required fields: id, name, summary, focus, primaryTargets, definitionModel, supportedLanguages, stateModel, executionModel, officialDocs.
• id must be unique and URL-safe (used in /tools/[tool]/ routes).
• officialDocs must include primary/official sources and are shown as references in the UI.
• When official sources do not explicitly state a detail (for example, primaryTargets), use the explicit placeholder "Not stated in official docs" rather than inference.
• Common focus categories used in this project include: "Infrastructure provisioning", "Configuration management", and "Control plane and orchestration". Example:

{
  "id": "example-tool",
  "name": "Example Tool",
  "summary": "One-line factual summary.",
  "focus": "Infrastructure provisioning",
  "primaryTargets": ["AWS"],
  "definitionModel": "Declarative templates",
  "supportedLanguages": ["YAML", "JSON"],
  "stateModel": "Service-managed",
  "executionModel": "CLI applies templates",
  "officialDocs": [
    { "label": "Official Docs", "url": "https://example.com/docs" }
  ]
}

src/data/questions.json

• Array of question objects that drive the quiz.
• Required fields: id, prompt, helpText (optional), type, options.
• Each options entry should include value and label (label is what users see).
• id values are referenced by rules in rules.json. Example:

{
  "id": "target_scope",
  "prompt": "What is your primary target scope?",
  "helpText": "This influences AWS-only vs multi-cloud tooling.",
  "type": "single",
  "options": [
    { "value": "aws_only", "label": "AWS only" },
    { "value": "multi_cloud", "label": "Multi-cloud" }
  ]
}

src/data/rules.json

• mustHave: hard exclusions (applied first).
• weights: preference-based scoring (applied after exclusions).
• Each rule must reference a valid questionId.
• Weight maps must use tool ids from tools.json. Example:

{
  "id": "w-aws-only",
  "questionId": "target_scope",
  "match": { "equals": "aws_only" },
  "weights": { "aws-cdk": 3, "terraform": 0 },
  "message": "Primary target is AWS only."
}

Development & tests

npm install
npm run dev
npm run test
npm run test:e2e

End-to-end tests (Playwright)

npx playwright install --with-deps
npm run test:e2e

The HTML report is generated in playwright-report/. Open it with:

npx playwright show-report

Static export (local preview)

npm run build
PORT=3000 node scripts/serve-static.mjs

Open the URL printed by the static server.

GitHub Pages deployment

• Production deploys are expected at https://whichiac.com/ (root domain, no base path).
• Ensure a workflow exists at .github/workflows/deploy.yml that builds and uploads the out directory.

Recommendation engine behavior

1. Apply hard exclusions first (must-have requirements).
2. Apply weighted scoring second.
3. Produce explanations per tool (rules fired and why they matter).
4. Show excluded tools with exact reasons.

About page

• /about/ explains the question set and rule logic.
• Weighted rule details are shown only on the About page.

Adding a tool

• Add the tool facts to src/data/tools.json, including official documentation links.
• Keep facts strictly factual and sourced from primary docs.
• Ensure the tool id is unique and URL-safe.
• Update src/app/tools/[tool]/page.tsx only if you add new fields to the schema.
• Add the tool to at least one rule (see test guard).
• Run npm run build to ensure the static tool page is generated.

Adding questions or rules

• Add or edit questions in src/data/questions.json.
• Add or edit rules in src/data/rules.json:
  • Use mustHave for hard exclusions.
  • Use weights for preference scoring.
• Update tests in src/lib/recommend.test.ts for new rule behavior.

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for fact sourcing, rule changes, language guidelines, and the PR checklist.

AI Disclosure

Some parts of this repository may have been generated with the assistance of AI. All AI-generated contributions are reviewed and verified by human maintainers to ensure accuracy, neutrality, and compliance with project guidelines.