Out with complexity. In with speed.

How MPOWR IT, in collaboration with Digistore24, standardised a Docker and CI/CD setup that had evolved over time and reduced monthly CI/CD costs by around 77 per cent.

MPOWR IT has worked with Digistore24 to restructure a Docker and CI/CD setup that had evolved over more than 15 years. The result is fewer Docker images, significantly shorter workflows, a reduction of around 77 per cent in monthly CI/CD costs, and a system that the Digistore24 development team can now manage and further develop themselves.

Project at a glance

● Client: Digistore24, e-commerce and affiliate platform

● Services provided by MPOWR IT: Docker and CI/CD optimisation, security hardening, knowledge transfer

● Starting point: a cloud setup that has evolved over 15 years, with around 60,000 CI/CD jobs per month

● Key finding: CI/CD costs reduced by around 77% per month

Results at a glance

● 77% reduction in monthly CI/CD job costs

● 71% reduction in build and CI workflow runtimes

● Docker images 45% smaller on average

● 30% fewer Docker images requiring building and maintenance

 

A well-established Docker and CI/CD setup at Digistore24

A system that worked, but was becoming increasingly difficult to change

Digistore24’s technical setup had evolved alongside the company over many years. New requirements, different target environments and technological changes had resulted in an architecture that, whilst serving its purpose, was becoming increasingly difficult for Digistore24’s developers to understand and adapt.

This was particularly evident in the Docker and CI/CD setup. Different build configurations increased the number of variants. Large Docker images prolonged transfer and execution times. Computation-intensive workflows led to waiting times and high cloud computing costs. With around 60,000 CI/CD jobs per month, technical complexity became a significant economic factor.

 

Assessment von Codebase, Docker-Builds und CI/CD-Pipelines

Don’t just treat the symptoms; understand the underlying causes

MPOWR IT began with a joint assessment of Digistore24’s codebase and existing development processes. The assessment covered the development environment, Docker build setup, CI/CD pipelines, logging, delivery architecture and cloud computing costs.

The initial finding was clear. There was no single bottleneck. The complexity had arisen from numerous decisions, configurations and dependencies that had developed over the years. A sustainable improvement therefore had to address several areas simultaneously.

This is precisely where MPOWR IT’s strength lies. We do not view software, infrastructure and team processes in isolation, but as an interconnected system.

Find out more: System and Software Architecture

 

Reduce the size of Docker images and cut CI/CD costs

Fewer variants. Shorter waiting times. Greater safety.

Together with the Digistore24 development team, MPOWR IT set out four objectives.

1. Docker builds should be standardised and their variability reduced.
2. The images should be smaller and consistently hardened for production use.
3. The CI/CD workflows should run faster and more reliably.
4. The costs for the approximately 60,000 monthly jobs should be significantly reduced.

Every decision had to be in line with the existing system, the team and long-term development.

 

Standardise Docker builds, harden images and speed up pipelines

One image per app instead of constantly creating new versions

MPOWR IT consolidated the Docker build configurations for each application. Instead of separate images for development, QA and production, there is now a single, standardised Docker image with clearly defined build targets for each target environment. This not only reduces the number of images; it also establishes a common standard, simplifies maintenance and makes changes easier for the team to track. Today, Digistore24 builds and maintains 30 per cent fewer images.

Smaller images, less clutter

MPOWR IT used minimal distributions as base images. As a result, the images contain only what is strictly necessary for operation and are, on average, 45 per cent smaller. This means that less data needs to be stored, pushed and pulled in jobs and runtime environments. This saves time, computing power and costs.

Security directly within the runtime

In addition, MPOWR IT hardened the images in line with the latest security best practices. Unnecessary components were removed, reducing the attack surface in the runtime environments. For MPOWR IT, security is not an after-the-fact control measure, but an integral part of the build process and architecture.

Find out more: IT & Cloud Security

More power for computationally intensive tasks

MPOWR IT migrated all Docker image build workflows and the particularly computationally intensive CI jobs to the blacksmit.sh Runner. Greater CPU performance, sticky disks and efficient layer caching ensure that steps that have already been completed can be reused more effectively. Combined with the smaller, more uniform images, this reduced the runtime of the build and CI workflows by around 71 per cent.

 

Around 77 per cent lower CI/CD costs per month

Less technology that gets in the way

For the Digistore24 development team, what matters most is what makes a difference in day-to-day operations. Greater stability, shorter waiting times and a setup that’s easy to understand and modify. The team now maintains just one image per app. The apps run on minimal, hardened runtimes with virtually no attack surface. And the approximately 77 per cent reduction in monthly CI/CD costs creates scope for the areas that really drive Digistore24 forward.

Sustainable rather than just fast

A setup is only better if the team can continue working with it

MPOWR IT did not make the technical decisions on its own. MPOWR IT analysed and decided on every advantage and every trade-off in collaboration with the Digistore24 team. The result was not an external solution that would become yet another system difficult to understand once the project ended, but rather a standard that the team understands, applies and maintains.

In addition, MPOWR IT developed an AI-friendly Dockerfile guideline. This led to Digistore24 creating its own AI skill for building and maintaining Docker images. The new standards are therefore not only documented; they are directly incorporated into day-to-day development work.

What this case shows

Systems that have evolved over time do not necessarily need a complete overhaul. Often, the most effective approach is to reduce complexity in a targeted manner, standardise technical decisions and empower the existing team to further develop the system themselves.

To this end, MPOWR IT combines analysis, architecture, implementation and knowledge transfer. Not as a consultancy that simply makes recommendations and then disappears, but as a technical partner that takes responsibility for delivering measurable improvements.