inital README

Author: do-joe

README.md

@@ -1,2 +1,44 @@
 # microservices-demo
-Online Boutique demo application tailored for deployment on DigitalOcean
+
+Online Boutique demo application tailored for deployment on DigitalOcean using Helm.
+
+## Technical Details
+
+This Helm chart deploys the Online Boutique, a 10+ microservices application. It is configured to be flexible for both development and production-like deployments.
+
+### Deployment
+
+The chart can be deployed directly from the OCI registry.
+
+**Command to install:**
+```bash
+helm install demo oci://ghcr.io/do-solutions/microservices-demo
+```
+
+### Configuration
+
+The deployment is controlled by the values in the `values.yaml` file. You can override these values during installation using the `--set` flag or by providing your own values file with `--values`.
+
+#### Development vs. Production Deployments (`devDeployment`)
+
+The most important configuration is the `devDeployment` flag, which controls how dependencies are handled.
+
+*   `devDeployment: true` (Default): This mode is for development and testing. The chart will deploy local instances of dependencies like PostgreSQL (for `adservice`) and Valkey (for `cartservice`) as subcharts. This is the easiest way to get the application running.
+
+*   `devDeployment: false`: This mode is for production-like environments where you manage your own databases. When set to `false`, the chart will not deploy the database subcharts. You are responsible for creating the necessary `ConfigMap` and `Secret` resources that provide connection details for each service before deploying the chart. For example, `adservice` requires a `ConfigMap` named `adservice-database-configuration` and a `Secret` named `adservice-database`.
+
+To deploy in a production-like mode, you would run:
+```bash
+helm install demo oci://ghcr.io/do-solutions/microservices-demo --namespace boutique --set devDeployment=false
+```
+
+### Accessing the Application
+
+By default, the `frontend` service is exposed via a Kubernetes `Service` of type `LoadBalancer`. To access the application, you need to get the external IP address of this service.
+
+You can find the external IP by running:
+```bash
+kubectl get svc frontend-external -n boutique -o jsonpath='{.status.loadBalancer.ingress[0].ip}'
+```
+
+Once you have the IP address, you can access the application by navigating to `http://<EXTERNAL_IP>` in your web browser.