The "Golden Path" is a Module
How do you ensure every new microservice follows the rules? You stop letting people create them manually.
In a mature platform, you remove the "Create Repository" button from the GitHub UI — or at minimum, you make it culturally clear that using it directly is the wrong path. Instead, you provide a Terraform Module (or a Backstage Software Template) that acts as a "Vending Machine." A developer puts in their request (service name, team, cost center), and the machine dispenses a fully compliant repository.
The Module Logic:
When a developer calls module "new_service", the platform automatically:
- Creates the GitHub Repository.
- Governance: Sets visibility to
private. - Governance: Enables Branch Protection (requires 2 reviewers).
- Governance: Commits a default
ci.yamlpipeline file. - Governance: Sets up the team's access permissions.
- Governance: Applies required metadata tags (cost center, team, environment).
The developer gets their repository in minutes, and the Security Team can sleep knowing it is structurally impossible to create a repository without these protections — because the only sanctioned path to creation includes them.
Why Modules Are Better Than Checklists
A checklist relies on a human remembering to check every box. A module makes the checklist irrelevant: the correct configuration is the only output the module can produce. This is the difference between a detective control (finding violations after the fact) and a preventive control (making violations impossible in the first place). Mature governance systems use both.
Interviewers often ask: "How do you enforce security standards without slowing down developers?" The answer is the vending machine model: you make the compliant path the easiest path. Developers don't want to fight security — they want to ship. If the compliant module is faster than doing it manually, adoption is organic. Frame your answer around reducing friction, not adding gates.