#atom

GitHub's integrated CI/CD automation platform for repository-based workflows

Core Idea: GitHub Actions is a continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) platform built into GitHub repositories that automates software workflows using event-triggered sequences of commands defined in YAML files.

Key Elements

• Workflow Components

  • Workflows: YAML files in .github/workflows/ directory
  • Events: Triggers like push, pull request, or scheduled actions
  • Jobs: Groups of steps that execute on the same runner
  • Steps: Individual tasks that run commands or actions
  • Actions: Reusable units of code for common tasks
  • Runners: Execution environments (GitHub-hosted or self-hosted)

• Key Features

  • Native GitHub integration
  • Matrix builds for testing across multiple configurations
  • Parallel job execution
  • Conditional execution based on event data
  • Secrets management for secure credential storage
  • Artifacts for sharing data between jobs
  • Environment targeting for deployment control

• Common Use Cases

  • Code testing and validation
  • Application building and packaging
  • Deployment to various environments
  • Infrastructure provisioning
  • Release management
  • Documentation generation
  • Security scanning
  • Container image building and publishing

• Implementation Example

  name: Build and Deploy
  
  on:
    push:
      branches: [ main ]
  
  jobs:
    deploy:
      runs-on: ubuntu-latest
      steps:
        - name: Checkout code
          uses: actions/checkout@v4
          
        - name: Setup environment
          uses: actions/setup-go@v4
          with:
            go-version-file: 'go.mod'
            
        - name: Build application
          run: go build -o myapp
          
        - name: Deploy to server
          uses: webfactory/ssh-agent@v0.9.0
          with:
            ssh-private-key: ${{ secrets.SSH_PRIVATE_KEY }}
  

## Connections

- **Related Concepts**: CI/CD Pipeline (general concept), YAML (configuration format), VPS CI/CD Pipeline (implementation example)
- **Broader Context**: DevOps Tools (category), Continuous Integration (methodology)
- **Applications**: Cloud to VPS Migration (use case for deployment), Static Site Deployment (common workflow)
- **Components**: GitHub Secrets (security feature), GitHub Runners (execution environment)

## References

1. GitHub Actions documentation: https://docs.github.com/en/actions

#github #ci-cd #automation #devops

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**Connections:**
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**Sources:**
- From: Getting back to the EU from Google Cloud to Self-Hosted EU Infrastructure