Ask HN: How do you debug prod data in dev?

1 points by bluelightning2k 2y ago ↗ HN

Hey,

In both my companies I've had issues replicating issues for specific users/accounts.

Seems to me to options are

1. Copy all of prod to dev

2. Maintain custom scripts to pull a significant subset

3. Override env variables to actually connect to prod & try not to mess up

Then similarly with user-emulation the only option I can see is a hacky script.

I'm considering building tooling around this & just curious how this works in other companies.

3 comments

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Simon_ORourke 2y ago ↗

Short answer is don't - I had to pump some Prod data through a backend travel booking system years back, and unknown to me the CEO was using the dev backend and UI to demo to investors. It didn't look too secure when his demo started populating with real email addresses.

If you've really got to do it, write a script that emulates prod data with fake made up examples.

bluelightning2k 2y ago ↗

Thanks for the reply Simon.

Problem I continuously face is when the customer has some setup which is different.

JojoFatsani 2y ago ↗

One of the tougher problems in the realm. I suppose the best is to generate a scrubbed dataset.