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Introduction

The IGAD Innovation Hub is deployed as a serverless application on AWS using the AWS Serverless Application Model (SAM). The platform consists of a React frontend and Python FastAPI backend, all managed through Infrastructure as Code.

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Deployment Environments

The platform supports two deployment environments:

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Testing Environment

  • Purpose: Development and testing before production release
  • Stack Name: igad-backend-testing
  • Resource Prefix: igad-testing-*
  • AWS Profile: IBD-DEV
  • Region: us-east-1
  • Configuration: config/testing.json
Testing Environment Settings: 
{
  "environment": "testing",
  "region": "us-east-1",
  "lambda": {
    "memorySize": 128,
    "timeout": 30
  },
  "dynamodb": {
    "billingMode": "ON_DEMAND"
  },
  "cloudwatch": {
    "logRetention": 7
  }
}

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Production Environment

  • Purpose: Live production system
  • Stack Name: igad-backend-production
  • Resource Prefix: igad-prod-*
  • AWS Profile: IBD-DEV
  • Region: us-east-1
  • Configuration: config/production.json
Production Environment Settings: 
{
  "environment": "production",
  "region": "us-east-1",
  "lambda": {
    "memorySize": 256,
    "timeout": 30
  },
  "dynamodb": {
    "billingMode": "ON_DEMAND",
    "pointInTimeRecovery": true
  },
  "cloudwatch": {
    "logRetention": 30
  }
}

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AWS Services Used

The IGAD Innovation Hub leverages the following AWS services:

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Compute & API

ServicePurposeConfiguration
AWS LambdaBackend API functionsPython 3.11, ARM64 architecture
API GatewayREST API endpointStage: prod, Binary media types supported
Lambda Web AdapterFastAPI to Lambda bridgeLayer ARN: arn:aws:lambda:us-east-1:753240598075:layer:LambdaAdapterLayerArm64:25
Lambda Functions:
  1. ApiFunction
    • Handler: bootstrap
    • Memory: 512 MB
    • Timeout: 300 seconds (5 minutes)
    • Runtime: Python 3.11 on ARM64
  2. AnalysisWorkerFunction
    • Handler: app.tools.proposal_writer.workflow.worker.handler
    • Memory: 1024 MB
    • Timeout: 900 seconds (15 minutes)
    • Purpose: Async RFP analysis and background processing

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Frontend Distribution

ServicePurposeConfiguration
Amazon S3Static website hostingPrivate bucket with CloudFront OAC
Amazon CloudFrontCDN and global distributionCustom error pages for SPA routing
CloudFront FunctionSPA route handlingRewrites requests to /index.html

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Data Storage

ServicePurposeConfiguration
Amazon DynamoDBNoSQL databaseSingle-table design, on-demand billing
Amazon S3Document storageVersioned bucket for proposal documents
S3 VectorsVector embeddings storageCosine similarity search, 1024 dimensions
DynamoDB Tables:
  • Testing: igad-testing-main-table
  • Production: igad-prod-main-table (inferred from pattern)
S3 Buckets:
  • Website: igad-*-testing/production-websitebucket-* (auto-generated)
  • Proposal Documents: igad-proposal-documents-${AWS::AccountId}
  • Vector Storage: igad-proposals-vectors-testing / igad-proposals-vectors-production

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Authentication & Authorization

ServicePurposeConfiguration
Amazon CognitoUser authenticationUser pools with email-based login
Cognito GroupsRole-based access controlAdmin, Editor, Viewer groups
Cognito Pools:
  • Testing: us-east-1_IMi3kSuB8 (User Pool), 7p11hp6gcklhctcr9qffne71vl (Client)
  • Production: Separate pool with stricter password policies

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AI/ML Services

ServicePurposeConfiguration
Amazon BedrockLLM inferenceClaude 3 models for AI generation
Bedrock Knowledge BaseRAG knowledge retrievalKnowledge Base ID: NPDZSLKCYX

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Monitoring & Logging

ServicePurposeConfiguration
Amazon CloudWatchLogs and metrics7-day retention (testing), 30-day (production)
AWS SESEmail notificationsCognito email delivery

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Architecture Diagram

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                        Users / Clients                       │
└────────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────────┘
                         │
                         ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    Amazon CloudFront                         │
│              (CDN + CloudFront Function)                     │
└────────┬────────────────────────────────────┬───────────────┘
         │                                    │
         │ /api/*                             │ /*
         ▼                                    ▼
┌────────────────────────┐         ┌─────────────────────────┐
│   API Gateway (prod)   │         │    S3 Website Bucket    │
└───────┬────────────────┘         │   (React Frontend)      │
        │                          └─────────────────────────┘
        ▼
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│              Lambda Functions (Python 3.11)                 │
│  ┌─────────────────────┐  ┌──────────────────────────┐   │
│  │   ApiFunction       │  │ AnalysisWorkerFunction   │   │
│  │   (FastAPI app)     │  │ (Background processing)  │   │
│  └─────────────────────┘  └──────────────────────────┘   │
└────────┬───────────────────────────────┬──────────────────┘
         │                               │
         ▼                               ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                      AWS Resources                           │
│  ┌──────────────┐  ┌──────────────┐  ┌──────────────┐     │
│  │   DynamoDB   │  │  S3 Buckets  │  │   Cognito    │     │
│  │  Main Table  │  │  Documents   │  │  User Pools  │     │
│  └──────────────┘  │  + Vectors   │  └──────────────┘     │
│                    └──────────────┘                         │
│                                                              │
│  ┌──────────────┐  ┌──────────────┐  ┌──────────────┐     │
│  │   Bedrock    │  │  CloudWatch  │  │     SES      │     │
│  │  Claude AI   │  │     Logs     │  │    Email     │     │
│  └──────────────┘  └──────────────┘  └──────────────┘     │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

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Deployment Strategy

  1. Test in Testing Environment
    • Deploy to igad-backend-testing
    • Verify all functionality
    • Run integration tests
    • Review CloudWatch logs
  2. Production Deployment
    • Requires manual confirmation
    • Deploys to igad-backend-production
    • Runs automated tests before deployment
    • Creates CloudFront cache invalidation
  3. Rollback Strategy
    • CloudFormation stack rollback capability
    • S3 bucket versioning enabled
    • Lambda function versions maintained

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SAM Configuration

The deployment uses AWS SAM with configuration in samconfig.toml: 
version = 0.1
[default]
[default.deploy]
[default.deploy.parameters]
stack_name = "igad-backend-testing"
resolve_s3 = true
confirm_changeset = false
capabilities = "CAPABILITY_IAM"
region = "us-east-1"

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CloudFormation Template

The infrastructure is defined in template.yaml using:
  • Transform: AWS::Serverless-2016-10-31
  • Resources: Lambda functions, API Gateway, S3 buckets, CloudFront, DynamoDB table references
  • Outputs: API endpoints, CloudFront URL, bucket names, function ARNs

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Next Steps

Deploy to Testing

Learn how to deploy to the testing environment

Deploy to Production

Learn how to deploy to production with safety checks

Environment Configuration

Configure environment variables and AWS resources

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