Script Versioning API

Overview

Script Versioning API is a lightweight backend service designed to track and version changes of scripts/files using GitLab repositories.

The system acts as a middleware between systems (e.g., ServiceNow, servers, automation tools) and GitLab, enabling centralized version control without requiring direct Git usage by end users.

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Current Features

Repository provisioning

• Automatically creates a GitLab repository per file:

  script-{server}-{file}
  

• Checks if repository exists before creating

Secure GitLab authentication

Supports multiple authentication strategies:

1. ENV (development)

• Uses environment variable:

  GITLAB_TOKEN
  

2. Secret API (production-ready)

• Fetches credentials dynamically from internal endpoint:

  http://127.0.0.1:6000/api/secret/{credential}
  

• Designed for integration with secrets managers (e.g. Conjur)

Clean architecture

• Controller → handles requests
• GitLabService → GitLab API logic
• AuthProvider → authentication abstraction

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Architecture

Client / ServiceNow / Script Source
              ↓
        FileController
              ↓
        GitLabService
              ↓
     IGitLabAuthProvider
        ↓           ↓
   EnvAuth      SecretApiAuth
              ↓
        Secrets Gateway
              ↓
           Conjur
              ↓
           GitLab API

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API Endpoint

POST /api/file/change

Request body:

{
  "fileName": "script.ps1",
  "server": "server01",
  "hash": "abc123",
  "contentBase64": "ZWNobyBoZWxsbw=="
}

Current behavior:

• Validates input
• Normalizes names
• Generates repository name
• Ensures repository exists in GitLab

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Configuration

appsettings.json

ENV mode:

{
  "GitLab": {
    "AuthType": "Env"
  }
}

Secret API mode:

{
  "GitLab": {
    "AuthType": "SecretApi",
    "SecretUrlTemplate": "http://127.0.0.1:6000/api/secret/{credential}",
    "Credential": "kontogitlab"
  }
}

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Security

• No tokens stored in code
• Token retrieval abstracted via providers
• Ready for integration with secrets managers (e.g. Conjur)
• Supports credential rotation without app restart

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Tech Stack

• .NET 8 (ASP.NET Core)
• GitLab REST API
• HttpClient (DI-based)
• JSON serialization

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Current Limitations

The system currently only creates repositories.

Missing features (planned):

• ❌ File commit to repository
• ❌ Change detection (hash comparison)
• ❌ Version history tracking
• ❌ Branching strategy
• ❌ Rollback support

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Roadmap

Phase 1 (in progress)

• Repository creation
• Auth abstraction
• Secret integration
• Commit file to GitLab
• Base64 decoding

Phase 2

• Hash-based deduplication
• Commit versioning
• Metadata storage

Phase 3

• Full GitOps flow
• Rollback support
• Integration with ServiceNow workflows

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Vision

The goal is to build a centralized versioning engine for scripts and configurations, allowing organizations to:

• Track all changes across environments
• Eliminate manual script management
• Integrate versioning into existing ITSM processes
• Improve security and auditability

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Running locally

dotnet run

API available at:

http://localhost:5215

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License

Internal / Private project (customizable)