The forklift-ui repository is an archived user interface project for VMware to OpenShift Virtualization migration, with development now continuing in the kubev2v/forklift-console-plugin repository. Built in TypeScript, this project provided a web-based tool enabling organizations to migrate virtual machines from VMware environments to OpenShift Virtualization, addressing the critical need for cloud-native workload transformation and cross-platform infrastructure migration.
The repository implements a comprehensive migration management interface that connects to backend services through configurable API endpoints. Users configure the application by creating a meta.dev.json file that specifies the forklift-controller inventory API root URL, the host OpenShift cluster API root URL, and optionally the inventory Payload API for Migration Analytics integration. This architecture allows the UI to operate against different backend deployments while maintaining flexibility in authentication and branding options.
The project supports multiple operational modes through environment variable configuration. The DATA_SOURCE variable allows switching between mock data for development and remote API calls for production use. The BRAND_TYPE variable enables customization between Konveyor and RedHat branding, while AUTH_REQUIRED controls whether OAuth-based authentication is enforced. For Kubernetes environments that lack OAuth support, developers can disable authentication and provide a bearer token directly through the K8S_AUTH_BEARER_TOKEN variable, ensuring compatibility across diverse deployment scenarios.
Development infrastructure relies on Node.js version 16 or higher and includes comprehensive tooling for code quality. The project uses webpack for bundling with separate development and production configurations, Jest for unit testing with coverage reporting, ESLint for linting with Prettier integration for code formatting, and TypeScript for type checking. The webpack-dev-server runs the application locally on port 9000 during development, while production builds output to a dist directory. The repository provides specialized npm scripts for running with mock or remote data sources, building for different environments, and analyzing bundle size.
The codebase is structured around absolute import paths using the @app/ alias for the src/app/ directory, reducing path complexity and improving readability. The project follows the patternfly-react-seed configuration pattern, inheriting established practices for code quality tools, asset handling for both raster and vector images, and multi-environment configuration management. Configuration files include TypeScript settings, webpack configuration, Jest setup, and editor configuration to maintain consistency across the development team.
A read-only preview with mock data remains accessible at the project's homepage, allowing stakeholders to explore the migration interface without connecting to live infrastructure. This preview capability served as a demonstration tool for the migration workflow and user experience design before the project transitioned to the console plugin architecture. The migration from a standalone UI to an integrated console plugin reflects the evolution toward tighter Kubernetes-native integration and improved operational workflows within OpenShift environments.
